Maidens Prayer – Recipe from David Embury’s ‘The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks’

1 part Cointreau 

2 parts Lemon Juice 

8 parts Gin i dash Orange Bitters to each drink 

Shake well with cracked ice. 

Here is another drink that illustrates the ease of ‘rolling your own. It is nothing, but a Gin Sour with Cointreau substituted for sugar. Or, put another way, it is a Side Car with Gin used in place of Cognac. 

A long long time ago in a galaxy far away a young woman called Thekla published a beautiful piece of music in Poland which was snapped up by an English concert pirate who added words and called the piece “A Maidens Prayer”. Instant success in puritanical Victoriana saw it percolate throughout all of society as maidens were almost required by law to know the song. It took a little while longer for a bartender to steal the name and attach it to a boozy drink, something that would’ve had society up in arms, if they’d frequented said bars and purchased said drink. The drink went through quite a bit of change over the years before finally settling on this recipe in the late 1920’s. that being said earlier versions have a lot less gin, Embury’s squeezed it into his standard formula which has resulted in something a little more boozy than I’d imagine your average ‘maiden’ sipping.

Its also basically a white lady, I wonder if the name isn’t a play on this at all.

I really liked this drink, but it’s a pretty standard one, and one I’m already pretty familiar with so not massively exciting. A good evening out workhorse as opposed to an Arabian stallion.