london cocktail

2 oz Bombay Dry Gin
1/2 oz Fresh Orange Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup (1:1)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass pre-rinsed with Ricard. Garnish with an orange wedge.

Last night, Andrea and I stopped in to Green Street Grill on the way home after having food at Grasshopper in Allston. Dylan made my first drink, the London, which is one of the drinks off of the big list I have never ordered. The anise seed-orange interplay made for an interesting drink. The drink itself had a rather good balance and was not overly sweet. While speaking to Dylan about recipes, he commented that many of his recipes come from the old Esquire and Trader Vic drink books (seen in photo for the D.O.M. cocktail above, which not surprisingly looks a lot like the London cocktail); however, I was not able to find the London in either of those two books. I did find a variation in CocktailDB:

London
• Dry Gin
• 2 dashes Orange Bitters
• 2 dashes Gomme Syrup
• 2 dashes Absinthe
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Add an olive and squeeze lemon peel on top.

Clearly a related cocktail except this one is a lot more gin forward akin to a Jerry Thomas Fancy Gin Cocktail. The Green Street London seems a bit more modern of a recipe, and I am rather glad that there was no briny olive decorating my beverage.