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All cocktails Alabazam (short)

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Alabazam (short)

After dinner/digestif · Nightcap/sipping

4.4 25 ratings

Favorite

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz Cognac (brandy)
1/3 oz Orange Curaçao
1/6 oz Lemon juice
1/6 oz Sugar syrup 'rich' (2:1)
1/12 oz Aromatic bitters

How to make

Serve in a nick & nora glass

Prepare

  1. 1 Select and pre-chill a NICK & NORA GLASS.
  2. 2 Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.

Method

  1. 3 SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
  2. 4 FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

  1. 5 EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

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Flavour profile

25.2% alc./vol. · 1.3 standard drinks · 151 calories

History

Orange, lemon, and aromatic bitters complement the brandy base.

The Alabazam first appears in Leo Engel's 1878 publication, American and Other Drinks, with a recipe for "ALABAZAM." It suggests using a tumbler with one teaspoonful of Angostura bitters, two teaspoons of orange Curaçao, one teaspoonful of white sugar, one teaspoonful of lemon juice, and half a wine glass of brandy, to be shaken with fine ice and strained into a claret glass. However, this short, straight-up, and bitter-heavy 1878 recipe differs significantly from the tall Alabazam known today, which originates from William Schmidt's 1892 book, The Flowing Bowl – When and What to Drink. Schmidt's "Alabazam" is presented as follows: A large bar glass, the juice of ½ lemon, 1 barspon of sugar, 1 dash of Seltzer; mix this well; Fill your glass 2/3 with fine ice, 2 dashes of curaçao, 1 drink of brandy. Stir well, strain, and serve. Leo Engel's concise Alabazam is presented in a more refined form in Louis Fouquet's 1896 French book, Bariana: Recueil pratique de toutes boissons américaines et anglaises. The following recipe is adapted from Fouquet's work: ALABAZAM COCKTAIL. Verre D ["Cocktail glass." Water capacity: 90 grams]. Take mixing glass A, ice cubes, 4 dashes of angostura, 8 dashes of curaçao, 4 drops of lemon juice. Fill with Curlier cognac, shake well with a spoon, strain, add lemon zest and serve.