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All cocktails Artist's Special

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Artist's Special

Aperitivo/aperitif · Classic/vintage · Fruity (e.g. Pornstar Martini)

4.2 21 ratings

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz Irish whiskey
1 1/2 oz Oloroso sherry
1/2 oz Lemon juice
1/2 oz Groseille syrup

How to make

Serve in a coupe glass

Prepare

  1. 1 Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
  2. 2 Prepare garnish of redcurrants.

Method

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

Garnish

  1. 5 Garnish with redcurrants bunch laid across rim.

Flavour profile

16.5% alc./vol. · 1.5 standard drinks · 189 calories

History

Irish whiskey and sherry blend harmoniously, with lemon tartness balanced by red currant syrup.

This vibrant pink Parisian drink from the 1920s is first mentioned in Harry MacElhone's 1927 Barflies and Cocktails. The Artist's Special is made with 1/3 Scotch Whisky, 1/3 Sherry, 1/6 Lemon juice, and 1/6 Groseille syrup, shaken well and strained into a cocktail glass. The recipe is credited to the Artists' Club, Rue Pigalle, Paris. An identical recipe appears three years later in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book, labeled ARTIST'S (SPECIAL) COCKTAIL. Craddock notes this is the genuine 'Ink of Inspiration' enjoyed at the Bal Bullier, Paris. The Bal Bullier, located at 39 Avenue Georges Bernanos, Paris, was a well-known ballroom established by François Bullier in the mid-nineteenth century and closed in 1940.