Webster

From Harry Craddock and the Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930 comes the gin-based WEBSTER. It’s balanced, dry, slightly tart from the lime juice and has apricot tones from apricot brandy. Depending on personal preference and the apricot brandy used, it may or may not need sweetening with simple syrup.

Requirements: dry gin, dry vermouth (Noilly Prat preferred), apricot brandy and lime juice.

• 1 oz. dry gin
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• 1.5 tsp. or 1/4 oz. apricot brandy
• 1/4 oz. lime juice (up to 1/2 of lime juiced)

Add ingredients to an ice-filled shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

History: Harry Craddock indicated this was “a favorite cocktail at the Bar of the S.S. Mauretania”. The Mauretania was a luxury liner and one of Cunard’s most successful ships. It was the world’s fastest ship in 1907 and held the record many years for the fastest transatlantic crossing. 

Comments: This is a unique drink and took me a couple of sips to get it. The flavors pass by in waves, ending with the floral notes of gin. To me, it’s not a summer drink; it’s dry and better suited to colder weather. If the lime juice is replaced by lemon juice and Peychaud’s bitters are added, it becomes a Boomer cocktail (unrelated to the generation born shortly after WWII).

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