Nothing more appropriate than the Pendennis Club cocktail (before dinner at the club). Of course we all make drinks better than those we can have made for us out (there are exceptions)! I have spent a lot of thought on this drink and can sense its origins in the Pegu Club cocktail. My theory is that the Pendennis Cocktail (aka Pendennis Club’s Famous Special) crept up from New Orleans where the Pegu had been tinkered with. The timing is right since the gin+liquer+citrus+bitters concept was going well in the 1880s.
My recipe:
1.75 oz dry gin
1 oz apricot liquer (or fine apricot brandy)
1/2 oz lime juice
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Shake 20 seconds, like a mad person, and strain into a chilled coupe. I like these ice cold.
A bit of simple if you are making it for a friend who has a sweet tooth.