Pink Lady – Recipe from David Embury’s ‘The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks’

1 part Grenadine 

2 parts Lemon or Lime Juice 

2 parts Apple Brandy 

6 parts Gin

1 Egg White to each 2 drinks 

Follow directions for mixing Montreal Gin Sour, page 111. Compare Opalescent, page 218.

The pink lady is a very old drink, probably popping up just before prohibition, and named after a Broadway musical of the same name, there are several recipes around, the one I was more familiar with omits the applejack and increases the gin to replace it. This makes it almost identical to a clover club, which dates back to the end of the 19^th century. I think the actual order of drinks for this is probably Clover Club, Pink Lady and then a White Lady, which seems a little counter intuitive.

Adding the applejack to this drink, and in fact applejack as an ingredient in cocktails full stop has been a little bit of a revelation for me, it has enough neutrality to pair well with almost any other spirit before the addition of supporting actors, and then injects a mouth watering fruitiness to drinks. I’d almost look at layering this in any sour to amplify the fruit, and I think it would work especially well with bourbon, or cognac.

My brother in law and partner was staying with us for a few days for the chaos that is Polo, Birthday, Rolling Stones and Ascot week and I’ve roped them in as official tasters, and the drink was a hit, so much so that we ran out of applejack after round three, and yes it needed a second dry shake to get any froth on top.