Friday, January 11, 2013

pendennis cocktail

2 oz Gin (Cascade Mountain)
1 oz Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
2-3 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

After the Paper Trail, I decided to turn to the Anvil's new 100 Drink List. To stick with the Louisville, Kentucky, theme of the evening, I selected the Pendennis Cocktail. While this recipe is a gin one, the  club where it was invented also lays claim to the Old-fashioned Bourbon Whiskey Cocktail. David Wondrich in a post on the Chanticleer Society provided a few recipes for the drink, and the ones that appeared in Esquire Magazine in 1931 and Baker's Gentleman's Companion in 1946 share similarity to the above recipe save for calling for Hungarian apricot brandy which is an eau de vie. However, it was the closest one to the Anvil's list of ingredients down to the Peychaud's Bitters except that the Anvil prescribes apricot liqueur. This reminded me of a cocktail on the last 100 Drink List -- the Dulchin which was created with dry apricot eau de vie (which is how I had it) but I later learned that the Anvil uses the sweet liqueur instead. I found a compromise to all the recipes by opening up Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails and making it with Ted Haigh's proportions.
pendennis club cocktail gin apricot lime
The Pendennis Club presented an apricot nose with a hint of lime. The lime joined forces with the fruitiness of the apricot liqueur on the sip, and the gin filled the swallow along with an apricot and bitters finish. I can see why some people have likened this drink to a Pegu Club; however, it reminded me a lot more of the Boomer in Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933.

3 comments:

Rowen said...

The Pendennis is luvely. A favorite.

frederic said...

Indeed. There is something lovely about apricot liqueur, although I don't want it in everything like Maloney did...

Unknown said...

We drink the Pendennis all the time here, using Ransom's Old Tom and the R&W apricot. Nice...