Pegu Club
Gin, orange curaçao and lime, with two bitters doing the quiet work.
At a Glance
Story
The two bitters are not decoration. Gin's juniper and a sweet orange liqueur sit awkwardly next to each other on their own, and the bitters build the bridge, the Angostura anchoring the bottom and the orange one pulling the curaçao up into the aromatics. Leave them out and you get a muddled sour. Include them and the thing snaps into focus, which is why the recipe has survived a century essentially unedited.
Ingredients
- 2 oz gin
- ¾ oz orange curaçaoa dry one, Pierre Ferrand or similar, never the blue stuff
- ¾ oz fresh lime juice
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- 1 dash orange bitters
- a lime twistto garnish
Method
Named for a British officers' club outside Rangoon, and printed by Harry Craddock in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book with the observation that it had travelled rather further than most drinks. It is a gin sour with better manners.
- Chill a coupe in the freezer while you gather everything.
- Shake the gin, curaçao, lime juice and both bitters hard with ice for 15 seconds.
- Double-strain up into the cold coupe.
- Twist the lime peel over the surface so its oil lands on top, then run it round the rim and drop it in.
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