Underhill-Lounge

Claridge Cocktail

1/3 Dry Gin (1 oz Boodles Gin)
1/3 French Vermouth (1 oz Noilly Prat Dry)
1/6 Apricot Brandy (1/2 oz Rothman and Winter Orchard Apricot)
1/6 Cointreau (1/2 oz Cointreau)

Shake (stir, please) well and strain into cocktail glass.

I just got this new Apricot liqueur from Rothman and Winter. I was really hoping with it’s delicious fresh taste of apricots, and wonderful scent of apricot eau de vie, the Claridge would be a home run.

In some ways, it is a very good feature of the Apricot Liqueur. You can really taste it. On the other hand, the cocktail itself is a bit subtle and single noted.

I felt like a little something was missing. I was a little worried, though, if you added a lemon twist, you would lose the delicate smell of the apricots. And if you added peach bitters, you might lose the delicate balance between the cointreau and apricot liqueur.

Maybe a different gin or a dash of one of the lighter orange bitters?

I believe Harry Craddock was also involved at the bar at the Claridge Hotel in London, so perhaps named after the bar in that hotel?

A cocktail with the same ingredients and proportions is called the “The Frankenjack” in Judge Jr’s “Here’s How” and in the Savoy Cocktail Book. Judge Jr. sez “The Frankenjack” was, “Invented by the two proprietors of very, very well-known Speakeasy in New York City.” Further investigation is necessary!

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.