There is something undeniably thrilling about sipping a cocktail that was born in rebellion. The drinks of the 1920s did not just taste good; they tasted like freedom, glamour, and just a little bit of danger. Whether you are hosting a themed soirée, looking to impress your friends with vintage bartending skills, or simply craving something more elegant than a gin and tonic, the classic 1920s cocktail is your answer.
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These are not just drinks. They are tiny time machines poured into a coupe glass.
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From the honey-kissed Bee’s Knees to the jewel-toned Aviation, every sip transports you to a jazz-drenched parlor behind a secret door. And the best part? These recipes are shockingly simple to recreate at home, with ingredients you can find at any well-stocked liquor store.
So slip on something sparkly, queue up a jazz playlist, and let’s raise a glass to the most stylish decade in cocktail history.
The Golden Age Of The Glass: Understanding 1920s Cocktail Culture
To truly appreciate a 1920s cocktail, you need to understand the deliciously rebellious world it was born into.
On January 17, 1920, the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution went into effect, banning the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol nationwide. The era of Prohibition had begun, and it would last a full thirteen years until December 1933. What the government did not anticipate was that Americans would simply refuse to stop drinking. Instead of quieting down, the cocktail scene exploded into one of the most creative periods in bar history.
The speakeasy became the cultural heartbeat of the decade. At the height of Prohibition in the late 1920s, New York City alone was estimated to have over 32,000 of these clandestine drinking dens, with some historians suggesting the real number may have climbed as high as 100,000 across the entire country. These were not just dark backrooms; the finest speakeasies were lavish clubs with jazz bands, ballroom floors, and some of the most inventive bartenders the world had ever seen.
The cocktail itself became a survival art form. Because much of the available alcohol during Prohibition was low-quality, made from “bathtub gin” or poorly distilled moonshine, bartenders became geniuses at disguising harsh spirits. They turned to citrus juices, honey, grenadine, egg whites, and liqueurs to transform rough spirits into something silky and seductive. In doing so, they inadvertently created classics like the Bee’s Knees, the Sidecar, and the Clover Club, drinks that remain staples on modern cocktail menus a century later.
The culture of the speakeasy also marked a radical social shift for women. Before Prohibition, bars and saloons were almost exclusively male spaces. The speakeasy changed everything. Women, particularly the bold, bobbed-hair “Flappers” of the Jazz Age, began frequenting these underground establishments freely. They drank, they danced, they defied convention. The cocktail became a symbol of liberation, and the Flapper became its poster girl.
There is a fascinating international dimension to 1920s cocktail culture as well. With Prohibition pushing Americans abroad, cities like Paris, Havana, and London became hotbeds of American-style mixology. Many iconic recipes were born in Cuban hotel bars and Parisian cocktail lounges, brought to life by expatriate bartenders serving homesick Americans who could legally drink again just by crossing the Atlantic. The Mary Pickford, for instance, was invented at Hotel Nacional de Cuba, and the Sidecar was born at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris.
The economic engine behind it all was staggering. Al Capone alone was reported to earn an estimated $60 million a year supplying illegal liquor in Chicago. Bootlegging funded organized crime at a scale never seen before, while also indirectly subsidizing one of the most dazzling cocktail cultures the world would ever produce.
Today, the drinks of the 1920s are experiencing a stunning renaissance. Craft cocktail bars around the globe have brought back coupe glasses, egg-white foams, and hand-chipped ice. The aesthetics of the Roaring Twenties, all art deco glassware, candlelight, and jazz, have found their way into the most fashionable bars of the 21st century. The 1920s cocktail is not a relic. It is a revival.
20 Best 1920s Cocktails List
The Bee’s Knees

If there is one drink that perfectly captures the spirit of the Roaring Twenties, it is the Bee’s Knees. The name comes directly from 1920s flapper slang meaning “the absolute best,” and the cocktail more than earns that title. Created at the Hôtel Ritz Paris by Austrian bartender Frank Meier, this deceptively simple drink was originally designed to mask the harshness of bootleg gin with honey and lemon. The result is a pale golden elixir, silky smooth, floral, and bright, that looks absolutely stunning in a chilled coupe glass with a curled lemon twist resting on the rim.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz gin (London dry works beautifully)
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
- 3/4 oz honey syrup (equal parts honey and warm water, stirred to combine)
- Lemon twist, for garnish
Instructions:
- Add the gin, lemon juice, and honey syrup to a cocktail shaker.
- Fill the shaker with ice and shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe glass.
- Express a lemon twist over the surface and drape it over the rim.
This is the cocktail for your most sophisticated gathering, a book club with excellent taste, a birthday dinner that starts in the kitchen, or simply a Tuesday evening that deserves a little ceremony.
French 75

Named after the formidable French 75mm field gun used in World War I, this cocktail arrives with the elegance of champagne and the kick of something far more dangerous. It was first mixed to stretch a bottle of gin and a bottle of sparkling wine a little further, which makes it one of the most charming acts of economy in cocktail history. The result is a tall, effervescent drink that is tart, botanical, and celebratory all at once. It glows in a champagne flute, the bubbles carrying the bright lemon and gin up to your nose before your lips even meet the glass.
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Ingredients:
- 1 oz gin
- 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 oz simple syrup
- 3 oz chilled champagne or dry prosecco
- Lemon twist, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Shake well for about 10 seconds.
- Strain into a chilled champagne flute.
- Top with cold champagne and give it the gentlest stir.
- Garnish with a lemon twist.
Pour this one for New Year’s Eve, a bridal shower, or any morning that deserves a little more than orange juice.
Sidecar

The Sidecar is the Prohibition era’s most distinguished export from Paris, believed to have been born at Harry’s New York Bar in the early 1920s. Unlike many drinks of the time that relied on sweetness to cover flaws, the Sidecar was always meant to be made with good cognac, which is why it has aged so gracefully into the modern era. It strikes a magnificent balance between boozy depth, citrus brightness, and the warmth of orange liqueur. Served in a sugar-rimmed coupe, it looks like jewelry.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz cognac (or good-quality brandy)
- 3/4 oz Cointreau or Grand Marnier
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
- Sugar, for the rim
- Orange peel, for garnish
Instructions:
- Run a lemon wedge around the rim of a coupe glass and dip the rim in fine sugar.
- Combine cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice in a shaker with ice.
- Shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
- Strain into your prepared coupe glass.
- Express an orange peel over the surface and use it as garnish.
This is the drink that proves sophistication does not require complexity. Order it confidently in any bar and know that you have excellent taste.
The Last Word

First crafted at the Detroit Athletic Club in the early 1920s, The Last Word is an equal-parts cocktail that feels like four strong personalities somehow agreeing on everything. The herbal intensity of green Chartreuse, the sweet cherry of maraschino liqueur, the botanical edge of gin, and the bright tartness of lime juice all somehow coexist in perfect harmony. It faded into obscurity for decades before being rediscovered in the early 2000s, and now it lives on cocktail menus everywhere it belongs: front and center.
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Ingredients:
- 3/4 oz gin
- 3/4 oz green Chartreuse
- 3/4 oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo is the gold standard)
- 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
- Maraschino cherry, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine all four ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Shake vigorously until well-chilled, about 15 seconds.
- Fine-strain into a chilled coupe glass.
- Garnish with a single maraschino cherry.
The color lands somewhere between pale green and gold, and the aroma is simultaneously floral, herbal, and citrusy. Sip this one slowly. It earned its name.
Mary Pickford

Named for the silent film actress who was America’s sweetheart and one of the most powerful women in early Hollywood, this cocktail was reportedly invented at Hotel Nacional de Cuba when Mary Pickford visited Havana accompanied by Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. It is pink, it is tropical, it is just a little bit glamorous, and it tastes like a secret. White rum, pineapple juice, grenadine, and maraschino liqueur combine into something that feels simultaneously retro and entirely modern.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz white rum
- 1 oz fresh pineapple juice
- 1 tsp grenadine
- 1 tsp maraschino liqueur
- Maraschino cherry, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Shake well until thoroughly chilled.
- Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass.
- Garnish with a maraschino cherry.
The drink arrives a soft blush pink with a faint tropical fragrance. It is the cocktail equivalent of a vintage glamour photograph: beautiful, romantic, and absolutely timeless.
Southside

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This is the cocktail that Al Capone supposedly claimed as his own. Born on Chicago’s South Side and mixed in speakeasies where the gin was rough and the stakes were high, the Southside was designed to make bathtub gin taste like something worth drinking. Mint, fresh citrus, and a touch of sweetness transform the spirit into something cool, herbal, and completely refreshing. Today, made with a quality gin, it is genuinely stunning.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz gin
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
- 3/4 oz simple syrup
- 6-8 fresh mint leaves
- Mint sprig, for garnish
Instructions:
- Add mint leaves to your shaker and gently muddle them, just enough to bruise them.
- Add gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup with ice.
- Shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe glass to remove any mint fragments.
- Garnish with a fresh mint sprig.
The drink is pale green with a whisper of herbal fragrance and a flavor that is simultaneously tart, sweet, and botanical. Perfect for a summer evening on the terrace.
Old Fashioned

Long before “old fashioned” meant outdated, it was a simple request: give me a whiskey cocktail, the way they used to make it. The Old Fashioned predates Prohibition slightly, but it found its devoted following during the 1920s, when a proper glass of bourbon felt like an act of gentle rebellion. There is no frippery here, just whiskey, sugar, bitters, and ice, arranged with the care of someone who takes pleasure seriously.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz bourbon whiskey
- 1 tsp sugar or 1 sugar cube
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- A splash of water
- Orange peel and optional maraschino cherry, for garnish
- Large ice cube
Instructions:
- Place the sugar cube (or sugar) in a rocks glass and soak with Angostura bitters and a splash of water.
- Muddle until the sugar dissolves completely.
- Add the bourbon and stir gently until combined.
- Add a large, clear ice cube.
- Express an orange peel over the glass by twisting it, and use as garnish.
The amber color, the deep spice on the nose, the way the orange oil shimmers on the surface: this is the drink that makes you slow down and pay attention.
Clover Club

With its rosy pink hue and pillowy egg-white foam, the Clover Club looks like something from a dream sequence. It was named after a distinguished gentlemen’s club in Philadelphia, first recorded in print in 1908, and became enormously fashionable throughout the 1920s. Today, it reads as both vintage and achingly contemporary, which is perhaps why it has found such a devoted following among women who love a cocktail that is beautiful before it is even tasted.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz gin
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 oz raspberry syrup (or grenadine)
- 1 egg white (pasteurized, if preferred)
- Fresh raspberries, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine gin, lemon juice, raspberry syrup, and egg white in a shaker without ice first.
- Dry shake vigorously for 20 seconds to build the foam.
- Add ice and shake again for another 15 seconds until very cold.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe glass.
- Garnish with two or three fresh raspberries placed on the foam.
The foam is cloud-like and the color a sophisticated dusty rose. The taste is sharp and sweet in equal measure, with that silky egg-white texture that coats the palate in the most luxurious way.
Aviation

The Aviation cocktail is a visual showstopper, a pale violet drink that looks like it was poured from the sky at dusk. Made with gin, maraschino liqueur, lemon juice, and the magical crème de violette, it has a flavor that hovers somewhere between floral, tart, and subtly sweet. The recipe appeared in Hugo Ensslin’s 1916 cocktail guide, and the drink soared in popularity throughout the 1920s before nearly disappearing when crème de violette became difficult to source.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz gin
- 1/2 oz maraschino liqueur
- 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 oz crème de violette
- Maraschino cherry or edible violet, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
- Shake well for 15 seconds.
- Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass.
- Garnish with a maraschino cherry or, for a dramatic touch, an edible violet flower.
This is the cocktail to serve when you want the Instagram photo before the first sip. It is stunning, unusual, and deeply memorable.
The Boulevardier

Think of the Boulevardier as the Negroni’s more brooding, bourbon-forward sibling. It was created in the 1920s by Erskine Gwynne, an American expat and socialite who published a Paris-based magazine called, naturally, The Boulevardier. Swapping gin for bourbon gives this classic bitter-sweet drink a deeper, caramel-edged warmth that feels particularly luxurious in the colder months. Equal parts elegance and attitude.
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Ingredients:
- 1 oz bourbon whiskey
- 1 oz Campari
- 1 oz sweet vermouth
- Orange peel or cherry, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine bourbon, Campari, and sweet vermouth in a mixing glass with ice.
- Stir for 30 seconds until well-chilled and slightly diluted.
- Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube, or into a chilled coupe.
- Express an orange peel over the top and garnish.
The deep ruby color catches the light beautifully, and the taste delivers a gorgeous tension between sweetness, bitterness, and warming whiskey spice.
Negroni

Reportedly invented in Florence, Italy around 1919, the Negroni became one of the most enduring cocktails of the 1920s and, arguably, of all time. Count Camillo Negroni is said to have asked his bartender to strengthen his Americano by replacing the soda water with gin, and the rest is history. Three equal parts, brilliant red in the glass, with that bittersweet intensity that rewards careful, contemplative sipping.
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Ingredients:
- 1 oz gin
- 1 oz Campari
- 1 oz sweet vermouth
- Orange peel, for garnish
Instructions:
- Add gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth to a mixing glass with ice.
- Stir for 30 seconds until well combined and cold.
- Strain over a large ice cube in a rocks glass.
- Garnish with an expressed orange peel draped over the edge.
The Negroni rewards honesty. There is nowhere to hide in a three-ingredient drink, which is why the quality of each component matters so much. Get it right, and it is simply perfect.
Tom Collins

Long, fizzy, refreshing, and bright with citrus, the Tom Collins has been cooling people down since the 1870s and hit its stride as a speakeasy favorite throughout the 1920s. It is the rare cocktail that manages to be both approachable and endlessly satisfying, exactly the kind of drink you make in a big pitcher for a summer lunch with your best friends.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz gin (Old Tom gin is traditional, but London dry works beautifully)
- 1 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 oz simple syrup
- 3 oz club soda
- Lemon slice and maraschino cherry, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice.
- Shake well for about 10 seconds.
- Strain into a tall Collins glass filled with ice.
- Top with club soda and stir gently just once.
- Garnish with a lemon slice and cherry.
Served in a tall glass over cracked ice, it is a drink that looks like summer and tastes like a long, happy afternoon.
Gimlet

The Gimlet is spare, sharp, and deliberately unadorned. Gin and lime, sweetened just enough to take the edge off, served cold and clean in a coupe glass. Its origins lie in the British Navy, where lime juice was used to prevent scurvy, but the Gimlet found its sophisticated second life in the cocktail bars of the 1920s. Today it remains one of the most precise, perfectly proportioned drinks in existence.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz gin
- 3/4 oz fresh lime juice (or Rose’s Lime Cordial for the traditional version)
- 1/2 oz simple syrup
- Lime wheel or twist, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine gin, lime juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice.
- Shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
- Strain into a chilled coupe glass.
- Garnish with a lime wheel or a thin twist of lime peel.
The drink is pale green and almost crystalline in a clean glass. The flavor is bracingly tart with a botanical back note that lingers beautifully.
Gin Rickey

Originally made with bourbon in the 1880s, the Gin Rickey evolved into its gin form during Prohibition when gin was far more available, if not always of the finest quality. Named for Democratic lobbyist Joe Rickey, the drink is famously unsweetened, relying entirely on the interaction between spirit, citrus, and carbonation. In 2011, more than a century after its invention, the Gin Rickey was officially named the native cocktail of Washington, D.C.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz gin
- 1 oz fresh lime juice
- 3 oz club soda
- Lime wedge, for garnish
- Ice
Instructions:
- Fill a highball glass with ice.
- Add gin and fresh lime juice.
- Top with club soda and stir gently.
- Garnish with a fresh lime wedge squeezed and dropped into the glass.
This is the cocktail you want on a hot evening when you need something refreshing without any fuss. No sweetener, no ceremony, just pure and sparkling.
Classic Daiquiri

Before the frozen, fruit-blended versions took over beach bars, the Daiquiri was a model of elegant simplicity. Named for a beach near Santiago, Cuba, and popularized in the bars of Havana during Prohibition when Americans flocked to Cuba for legally accessible rum, the Daiquiri is a masterclass in balance. Rum, lime, and a touch of sugar: three ingredients, infinite pleasure.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz white rum
- 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
- 1/2 oz simple syrup
- Lime wheel, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine rum, lime juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice.
- Shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe glass.
- Garnish with a thin lime wheel resting on the rim.
The Daiquiri arrives bright white with a hint of green, impossibly clean and refreshing, with a tartness that makes you want the next sip before you have finished the first.
Ward Eight

Believed to have been created around 1898 to celebrate a political election victory in Boston, the Ward Eight became a popular fixture in 1920s speakeasies known for its sweet, fruity, blushing amber appearance. Rye whiskey, with its spicy character, is softened by orange juice and grenadine, making it an accessible whiskey cocktail for those who find straight spirits too challenging.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz rye whiskey
- 1 oz fresh orange juice
- 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp grenadine
- Orange slice and maraschino cherry, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine rye whiskey, orange juice, lemon juice, and grenadine in a shaker with ice.
- Shake well until thoroughly chilled.
- Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass.
- Garnish with an orange slice and maraschino cherry.
The color is a warm, peachy amber and the taste is fruity, slightly tart, and warming, a lovely gateway into the world of whiskey cocktails.
Jack Rose

The Jack Rose is one of the most quietly underrated cocktails of the 1920s, a drink that was beloved by literary giants including John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway. Made from applejack, an American apple brandy, with fresh citrus and grenadine, it is rosy, slightly sweet, and has a distinctly American flavor profile that sets it apart from the European-inspired drinks of the era.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz applejack or Calvados (apple brandy)
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice (or lime juice)
- 1/2 oz grenadine
- Lemon twist, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine applejack, lemon juice, and grenadine in a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
- Strain into a chilled coupe glass.
- Garnish with a lemon twist.
The Jack Rose is the color of a tea rose at sunset, warm pink and glowing. The apple notes from the brandy give it a harvest warmth, while the citrus keeps it lively and bright.
Hanky Panky

One of the few classic cocktails invented by a woman, the Hanky Panky was created by Ada Coleman, head bartender at the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel in London during the 1920s. She developed it for actor Sir Charles Hawtrey, who asked for something with “a real punch in it.” The Fernet-Branca gives this gin and vermouth cocktail its mysterious bitter, herbal undertow that makes it completely unlike any other drink of the era.
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Ingredients:
- 1.5 oz gin
- 1.5 oz sweet vermouth
- 1 tsp Fernet-Branca
- Orange twist, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine gin, sweet vermouth, and Fernet-Branca in a mixing glass with ice.
- Stir for 30 seconds until very cold.
- Strain into a chilled coupe glass.
- Express a wide strip of orange peel over the surface and use as garnish.
The Hanky Panky is a beautiful, deep amber color with a complex aroma: floral, herbal, and slightly medicinal in the most elegant way imaginable. This is a drink for slow evenings and thoughtful conversations.
Pegu Club

Named after the famous Pegu Club in Rangoon (now Yangon), Burma, this cocktail was a favorite of British colonial officers and was brought back to European and American bars in the 1920s where it became something of a sophisticated curiosity. Gin, orange liqueur, lime juice, and bitters create a drink that is clean, bracingly citrusy, and deceptively strong.
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Ingredients:
- 2 oz gin
- 3/4 oz orange liqueur (Cointreau or triple sec)
- 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- 1 dash orange bitters
- Lime twist, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
- Strain into a chilled coupe glass.
- Garnish with a lime twist.
Pale golden with a citrus-forward aroma and a clean, herbal finish, the Pegu Club is the cocktail equivalent of a perfectly tailored blazer: understated, confident, and always exactly right.
Corpse Reviver No 2

The Corpse Reviver family of cocktails was originally conceived as a hangover cure, believed to “revive” those suffering from the previous night’s excesses. The No. 2 was catalogued in the legendary 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book with the famous note: “To be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.” Gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, lemon juice, and a single rinse of absinthe create something that is herbal, bright, slightly floral, and utterly revitalizing.
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Ingredients:
- 3/4 oz gin
- 3/4 oz Cointreau
- 3/4 oz Lillet Blanc (or Cocchi Americano)
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1 dash absinthe (for rinsing the glass)
- Lemon twist, for garnish
Instructions:
- Rinse a chilled coupe glass with a small dash of absinthe, swirl, and discard the excess.
- Combine gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, and lemon juice in a shaker with ice.
- Shake well for 15 seconds.
- Strain into your absinthe-rinsed coupe glass.
- Garnish with a lemon twist.
The Corpse Reviver No. 2 is pale and golden, with a complex perfume of anise from the absinthe rinse drifting up from a drink that is otherwise bright and citrusy. It is the cocktail that makes you feel immediately, gloriously alive.
Bringing The Roaring Twenties Home
The 1920s cocktail is more than a trend, it is a testament to human creativity under pressure. Those long-ago bartenders, working in secret behind unmarked doors, turned scarcity into artistry and gave us a canon of drinks that has never been surpassed.
What makes these drinks so enduringly beloved is not just their flavor, though the flavors are exceptional. It is the story in every glass. The Bee’s Knees whispers of honey-scented speakeasies. The French 75 carries the echo of a jazz trumpet. The Clover Club arrives with the ghost of a pink-cheeked flapper spinning on a ballroom floor.
When you mix one of these cocktails at home, you are not just following a recipe. You are stepping into a lineage of extraordinary drinkers, rebels, artists, and adventurers who believed that life was too short for a bad cocktail.
Start with the classics: the Bee’s Knees for its simplicity, the Sidecar for its sophistication, the Old Fashioned for its quiet authority. Build your collection of coupe glasses, invest in a good cocktail shaker, and keep a bottle of Cointreau and fresh citrus always on hand. The rest will follow naturally.
The 1920s are calling. Pour yourself something beautiful and answer.
Enjoyed this guide? Save it for your next dinner party, and share it with a friend who deserves a great cocktail recommendation.
Sources: https://chesbrewco.com
Category: Cocktails