Blackthorn No. 1
4.2 41 ratings
Ingredients
How to make
Serve in a coupe glass
Prepare
- 1 Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
- 2 Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
Method
- 3 STIR all ingredients with ice.
- 4 FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
Garnish
- 5 EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.
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Flavour profile
15.9% alc./vol. · 1 standard drink · 151 calories
History
Dashes of bitters and lemon oils from the garnish are integral to this sloe gin classic from the turn of the 20th century.
This cocktail, a variation of the Blackthorn using sloe gin and gin instead of whiskey (see Blackthorn No.3 for the whiskey version), was first documented on November 21, 1897, in a New York Herald article titled "New Things in Tipples." It was described as one of three "cocktails which are the products of the fertile imagination of the high card of the Hoffman grill room." The Blackthorn cocktail is composed of "slow gin," identified as a liqueur, Italian vermouth, and a dash of Angostura bitters. Its popularity, the article suggests, is evident from its ingredients. A less favorable mention appears in the Los Angeles Herald on December 13, 1905, in an article titled "Shun Blackthorn Cocktail." This piece recounts the testimony of an intoxicated individual who appeared "arraigned before Judge Rose" and described "Hallucinations produced by indulgence in a new drink known as the "blackthorn cocktail"." Crucially, this article also provides the drink's recipe. How Drink Is Made "The cocktail is made of one-third each of French and Italian vermouths and slow gin with a dash of orange and pychaud bitters," stated a bartender. "All is poured over ice and thus diluted." The hallucinations, he explained, result from the combination of vermouths and slow gin. Vermouths are considered milder stimulants to the brain, while gin is a more potent one, leading to a reaction that causes the hallucinations. "The name is derived from the blackthorn bush, as the coloring of the slow gin is obtained from the sloeberry which grows on the blackthorn bush. Slow gin is redistilled gin. It is from the blackthorn bush that the shillalah carried by all the natives of Ireland is made. The blackthorn cocktail is delicious, but take the advice of the bartenders and beware." The Blackthorn first appeared in a cocktail recipe book in William "Cocktail Bill" Boothby's 1908 publication, World's Drinks And How To Mix Them. The recipe is credited to William Smith of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu. Into a mixing-glass of cracked ice pour a jiggerful of equal parts of French vermouth, Italian vermouth and Sloe gin, add a flavor of Orange bitters and a drop or two of Angostura bitters. Stir until very cold, strain into a stem cocktail-glass, squeeze a piece of lemon peel over the top and smile. BLACKTHORN Sloe Gin . . . . . . . . . ⅓ It. Vermouth . . . . . ⅓ Fr. Vermouth . . . . ⅓ Orange bitters . . . . 1 dash bitters . . . . . . . . . . . 2 drops Stir well with ice, strain into chilled glass, twist lemon peel over and serve.
Created by William Smith