A long list of absinthe cocktails

Absinthe cocktails? Here is one of the longest lists of cocktails containing absinthe that I have ever seen, and it comes from The Savoy Cocktail Book* (first published 1930). It is recommended that you do not try all of these in one session, or even in one month! Links for all cocktails are now provided; I will add key ingredients to each cocktail to allow "at-a-glance" searching.

1. Absinthe cocktail: with Angostura bitters
2. Absinthe (Special) cocktail: with gin, orange bitters and Angostura bitters.
3. Absinthe Drip Cocktail: with water and sugar


4. Apparent Cocktail (see above): with gin and Dubonnet.
5. Atty Cocktail: with gin, French vermouth, and creme de violette.
6. Bitter Cocktail: with gin, green Chartreuse and lemon juice.
7. Blackthorn Cocktail: with Irish whiskey, Angostura bitters and French vermouth.
8. Block and Fall Cocktail: with calvados, brandy and Cointreau.
9. Bombay Cocktail (2): with Cointreau, brandy, French vermouth and Italian vermouth.
10. Brazil Cocktail: with Angotura bitters, French vermouth and sherry.


11. Brunelle Cocktail (see above): Gin, Lemon Juice
12. Bunny Hug Cocktail: with gin and whisky.
13. Cabaret Cocktail: with Angostura bitters, gin and Dubonnet or Lillet blanc.
14. Castle Dip Cocktail: with apple brandy and peppermint liqueur
15. Choker Cocktail: with whisky.
16. Chrysanthemum Cocktail: with dry vermouth and Benedictine. Use absinthe instead of Pernod as mentioned here.
17. Cordova Cocktail: with gin, sweet vermouth and cream. Use absinthe, not pastis.
18. Corpse Reviver (2): with gin, Cointreau, Lillet blanc and lemon juice. Use absinthe, not Pernod.
19. Deep Sea Cocktail: with gin, dry vermouth and orange bitters.
20. Dempsey Cocktail: with gin, apple brandy and grenadine.
21. Depth Charge Cocktail: with Lillet and gin.
22. Dixie Cocktail: with orange juice, gin and dry vermouth.
23. Dream Cocktail: with brandy and Cointreau. Use absinthe, not anisette.
24. Du Barry Cocktail: with gin, dry vermouth and bitters.
25. Duchess Cocktail: with dry vermouth and sweet vermouth.
26. Dunhill’s Special Cocktail: with orange curacao, gin, sweet sherry, and dry vermouth
27. Earthquake Cocktail: with whisky and gin.
28. E. Nos Cocktail: with gin and dry vermouth.
29. Eye-opener Cocktail: with egg yolk, light rum, curaçao, crème de cacao, and sugar
30. Fascinator Cocktail: with gin, dry vermouth and mint leaves.
31. Fourth Degree Cocktail: with gin, French vermouth, and Italian vermouth.
32. Gasper Cocktail: with gin and sugar.
33. Glad Eye Cocktail: with peppermint white liqueur.
34. Harry’s Cocktail: with gin and sweet vermouth.
35. Hasty Cocktail: with gin, dry vermouth, and grenadine.
36. Irish Cocktail: with Irish whiskey, curacao, maraschino, and bitters.
37. Jeyplak Cocktail: with gin and sweet vermouth.
38. Johnnie Mack Cocktail: with sloe gin liqueur and dry Orange curacao liqueur.
39. Knock out Cocktail: with gin, dry vermouth, and creme de menthe.
40. Kup’s Indispensable Cocktail: with gin, sweet vermouth, and dry vermouth.
41. Ladies’ Cocktail: with whisky, anisette, and bitters.
42. Lawhill Cocktail: with whiskey, dry vermouth, maraschino, and bitters.
43. Linstead Cocktail: with whisky, pineapple juice, sugar, and lemon juice. Use absinthe, not anisette.
44. London Cocktail: with orange bitters, gomme sirop, and gin.
45. Macaroni Cocktail: with Italian vermouth.
46. McClelland Cocktail: with sloe gin liqueur and triple sec.
47. Maiden’s Blush Cocktail (2): with gin and grenadine.
48. Martini (Special) Cocktail (Serves 6 people) No online link found.
4 glasses of gin.
1.5 glasses Italian vermouth.
A third of a glass of Orange-flower water.
Before shaking, add a dash of Absinthe and one or two dashes of Angostura Bitters.
49. Maurice Cocktail: with gin, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, and orange juice.
50. Melba Cocktail: with grenadine, light rum, lemon juice, and Swedish punch.
51. Merry Widow Cocktail: bitters, vermouth, Benedictine, and gin. Use absinthe, not anisette.
52. Millionaire Cocktail (2): with curaçao, grenadine, whisky, and egg white. Use absinthe, not Pernod.
53. Minnehaha Cocktail: with gin, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, and orange juice.
54. Modern Cocktail (No. 1): with dark rum, orange bitters, whisky, and lemon juice.
55. Modern Cocktail (No. 2): with sloe gin liqueur, grenadine, orange bitters, and whisky.
56. Monkey Gland Cocktail: with gin, orange juice, and grenadine. Use absinthe, not Absente or Pernod. Nice article from the San Francisco Chronicle.
57. Moon-raker Cocktail: with brandy and peach brandy. Use absinthe, not Penod.
58. Morning Cocktail: with Angostura bitters, brandy, and Italian vermouth.
59. Morning Glory Cocktail: with gum syrup, curacoa, Boker's bitters, brandy, and whisky.
60. Nick’s Own Cocktail: with Angostura bitters, Italian vermouth, and brandy.
61. Nine-Pick Cocktail
62. Nineteen Cocktail
63. Nineteen-Twenty Cocktail
64. Nineteen-Twenty Pick-Me Up Cocktail
65. Olivette Cocktail Use absinthe, not anisette.
66. Pansy Cocktail
67. Pauline Cocktail
68. Peggy Cocktail
69. Phoebe Snow Cocktail
70. Piccadilly Cocktail Use absinthe, not anis.
71. Plain Sherry Cocktail Use absinthe, not pastis.
72. Plain Vermouth Cocktail Use absinthe, not pastis.
73. Presto Cocktail
74. Queen Elizabeth Cocktail
75. Rattlesnake Cocktail Use absinthe, not anis.
76. Ray Long Cocktail
77. Saucy Sue Cocktail Use absinthe, not Pernod.
78. Savoy Hotel Special Cocktail (No. 1)
79. Sazerac: with cognac (or rye whiskey) and Peychaud's bitters.
80. Self-Starter Cocktail
81. Some Moth Cocktail
82. Special Rough Cocktail Use absinthe, not anisette.
83. Suisse Cocktail
84. Temptation Cocktail Use absinthe, not anisette.
85. Third Degree Cocktail Use absinthe, not anis.
86. Third Rail Cocktail (No. 2) Use absinthe, not anisette.
87. T.N.T. Cocktail Several other absinthe cocktails on this page.
88. Trilby Cocktail (No. 2)
89. Turf Cocktail
90. Tuxedo Cocktail (No. 1)
91. Tuxedo Cocktail (No. 2)
92. Ulanda Cocktail
93. Victory Cocktail
94. Weesuer Cocktail
95. Which Way Cocktail
96. Whip Cocktail
97. White Lily Cocktail
98. Whizz-Bang Cocktail
99. Yellow Parrot Cocktail
100. Yokohama Cocktail
101. Yolanda Cocktail Use absinthe, not anisette.
102. Zazarac Cocktail
103. Morning Glory Fizz
104. Absinthe Frappé Half way down the page.

Ingredient details to follow.

I especially like the Absinthe Frappé and, of course, the Sazerac. I also love the Absinthe Sour, not specifically listed here, which I first tasted in Shanghai in May 2005. What are your favourites?

It is interesting that these cocktails were being served in London around 1930, given that absinthe sales in France were banned from 1915. Exports of remaining French absinthe stocks continued after 1915, and production of absinthe shifted from France to Spain. So Londoners could have been enjoying pre-ban French absinthe or French-style absinthe produced in Spain. In either case, those bottles would be highly prized by collectors now. But in the "carpe diem" days of 1930, it seems, judging by this cocktail list, that absinthe drinkers had other things on their minds!

* A footnote on the book's author: Harry Craddock was an United States citizen who left during Prohibition and joined the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel, London, in 1920. Craddock was one of the most famous cocktail barmen of the 1920s and 1930s. Craddock’s “The Savoy Cocktail Book” was published in 1930, and is still in print today. Craddock invented a number of classic cocktails possibly including the White Lady, and popularised the Dry Martini. (Source: Wikipedia).

Update July 2007

I have aded here two very recent UK creations to complement the 104 1930's recipes. I like both the idea and the taste of the first: a very modern cocktail (the Caipirinha) using a timeless ingredient (absinthe). I have yet to try the second. WARNING: If you don't like burning absinthe, don't read the second recipe!

Clandestine Caipirinha (as served at the London Bar Show)

Glass: Old fashioned/ small rocks

50ml La Clandestine Absinthe
12.5ml Ice water
5 wedges of fresh cut lime
1 bar spoon muscovado sugar
Crushed Ice

Using your small rocks/old fashioned add the bar spoon of sugar, 50ml Clandestine and 12.5ml ice water. Using the spoon, stir the contents allowing for all the sugar to seperate. Squeeze and drop the 5 pieces of lime in to the drink and once again use the bar spoon to stir the contents. Finally fill the glass with crushed ice and stir all ingredients through the drink, making sure that all flavours are perfectly mixed together.

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Steamers Boat (as served at Adrian's Bar, 82 West Nile Street Glasgow, Scotland)

Glass: Chilled Flute

Orange zests soaked in Clandestine for 3 days and brown sugar (covered with clingfilm)
25ml La Clandestine Absinthe
Champagne of your choice

In a brandy balloon, add 2 of the absinthe soaked orange zests with some of the brown sugar and 25ml Clandestine. Usinge a lighter, light the Absinthe and start swirling the glass allowing the sugar to caramelise and some of the alcohol to burn off. After about a minute blow out the flame and using a hawthorn strainer, transfer into a chilled flute. Top up with Champagne and garnish with a flamed absinthe soaked orange zest (beware as this can be slightly dangerous!).

Both recipes created by Darroch of Black Tie Bartending.