White lady (cocktail)

Last updated

White lady
IBA official cocktail
White Lady - Beefeater gin, Cointreau, fresh lemon juice (12403540403).jpg
Type Cocktail
Base spirit
Served Straight up: chilled, without ice
Standard drinkware
Cocktail Glass (Martini).svg
Cocktail glass
IBA specified
ingredients†
PreparationAdd all ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into large cocktail glass.
Commonly servedAll day
NotesThis cocktail is a variant of the Sidecar
White lady recipe at International Bartenders Association

White lady (also known as a Delilah, [1] or Chelsea sidecar [1] ) is a classic cocktail that is made with gin, Cointreau or triple sec, fresh lemon juice and an optional egg white. [2] It belongs to the sidecar family, made with gin in place of brandy. The cocktail sometimes also includes additional ingredients, for example egg white, sugar, cream, or creme de menthe. [3]

Contents

The classic concoction is most commonly served in a martini cocktail glass. When an egg white is added a champagne coupe is preferable; the silky foam clings more pleasingly to the curved glass.

Origin

The white lady was made in honor of Eveline Alice Wander Gorkiewicz, who helped British prisoners of war escape Turkey in the first world war. She would dress up as an old Turkish wash lady (dressed in white) and hide the prisoners in the washing trolley. The drink was named by the soldiers she rescued. The original recipe for the white lady was devised by Harry MacElhone in 1919 at Ciro's Club in London. He originally used crème de menthe, but replaced it with gin at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in 1929. [4] [2]

According to the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel, the drink was created there by Harry Craddock. [2]

History

A recipe for the white lady made with gin, Cointreau, and fresh lemon juice appears in the Savoy Cocktail Book, published in 1930. [5] Joe Gilmore, former Head Barman at The Savoy, says this was one of Laurel and Hardy's favorite drinks. [6]

Early recipes like MacElhone's and Craddock's do not have egg white as one of the recorded ingredients. [2]

Comparison with gin sour

While sours are characterized by a bright acidity, sidecars are often drier, since they are made with liqueurs (in this case Cointreau) instead of sugar. Sidecars are considered more of a challenge for bartenders because the proportion of ingredients is more difficult to balance for liqueurs of variable sweetness. [7]

In John le Carré's 1965 novel The Looking Glass War , the British spy, and main protagonist, Fred Leiser's favourite drink is a white lady and he makes several attempts to get other agents to try the cocktail.

It is mentioned in the novel Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway. [4]

It is also mentioned in the films Inspector Hornleigh (1938) and Isle of Missing Men (1942). In The Intelligence Men (1965), Eric Morecambe orders a White Lady from hotel room service, after the arrival of a lady dressed in white; Ernie Wise delivers the drink, posing as a member of staff.

A mock version of the drink is made in the Japanese manga series Kaguya-sama: Love Is War .

In Molly Keane's 1981 novel Good Behaviour, Aroon St. Charles drinks white ladies with her brother Hubert and their friend Richard Massingham.

The White Lady is a favorite summer drink for lead character Phryne Fisher in multiple novels by Kerry Greenwood in her series "Phryne Fisher Mysteries," which are set in late 1920's Australia. A recipe is included in Book 16: "Murder in the Dark."

In Agatha Christie's novel "By the Pricking of My Thumbs," a White Lady drink is offered to Tuppence Beresford by her husband Tommy, in Chapter 3: A Funeral.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margarita</span> Mexican cocktail of tequila and orange liqueur

A margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. Some margarita recipes include simple syrup as well and are often served with salt on the rim of the glass. Margaritas can be served either shaken with ice, without ice, or blended with ice. Most bars serve margaritas in a stepped-diameter variant of a cocktail glass or champagne coupe called a margarita glass. The margarita is one of the world's most popular cocktails and the most popular tequila-based cocktail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French 75 (cocktail)</span> Cocktail made from gin, Champagne, lemon juice, and sugar

French 75 is a cocktail made from gin, champagne, lemon juice, and sugar. It is also called a 75 Cocktail, or in French simply a Soixante Quinze.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidecar (cocktail)</span> Cocktail traditionally made with cognac, orange liqueur and lemon

The sidecar is any cocktail traditionally made with cognac, orange liqueur, plus lemon juice. In its ingredients, the drink is perhaps most closely related to the older brandy crusta, which differs both in presentation and in proportions of its components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martini (cocktail)</span> Cocktail made with gin and vermouth

The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. A variation, the vodka martini, uses vodka instead of gin for the cocktail's base spirit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinger (cocktail)</span> Cocktail made from crème de menthe and brandy

A stinger is a duo cocktail made by adding crème de menthe to brandy. The cocktail's origins can be traced to the United States in the 1890s, and the beverage remained widely popular in America until the 1970s. It was seen as a drink of the upper class, and has had a somewhat wide cultural impact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sour (cocktail)</span> Family of classic mixed drinks

A sour is a traditional family of mixed drinks. Sours belong to one of the old families of original cocktails and are described by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book How to Mix Drinks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crème de menthe</span> Sweet, mint-flavored alcoholic beverage

Crème de menthe is a sweet, mint-flavored alcoholic beverage. It is available commercially in a colorless version and a green version. Both varieties have similar flavor and are interchangeable in recipes, except where color is important. It is usually made with Corsican mint or peppermint, which is steeped in grain alcohol for several weeks before it is filtered and sweetened to create the final product. It typically has 25% alcohol by volume.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lillet</span> French wine-based aperitif

Lillet is a French wine–based aperitif from Podensac. Classed as an aromatised wine within EU law, it is a blend of 85% Bordeaux region wines and 15% macerated liqueurs, mostly citrus liqueurs. The mix is then stirred in oak vats until blended. During the aging process, Lillet is handled as a Bordeaux wine.

<i>The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks</i> 1948 book about cocktails

The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks is a book about cocktails by David A. Embury, first published in 1948. The book is noteworthy for its witty, highly opinionated and conversational tone, as well as its categorization of cocktails into two main types: aromatic and sour; its categorization of ingredients into three categories: the base, modifying agents, and special flavorings and coloring agents; and its 1:2:8 ratio for sour type cocktails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fizz (cocktail)</span> Type of carbonated alcoholic mixed drinks

A "fizz" is a mixed drink variation on the older sours family of cocktail. Its defining features are an acidic juice and carbonated water. It typically includes gin or rum as its alcoholic ingredient.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pink lady (cocktail)</span> Classic gin-based cocktail

The pink lady is a classic gin-based cocktail with a long history. Its pink color comes from grenadine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polar bear (cocktail)</span> Mint chocolate cocktail

A polar bear, After Eight or Peppermint Paddy is a mint chocolate cocktail that tastes like a York Peppermint Pattie or an After Eight mint. It is usually made from crème de cacao and peppermint schnapps, although crème de menthe is a popular substitute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakfast martini</span> Gin cocktail

A breakfast martini is a marmalade cocktail with gin, marmalade, orange liqueur, and lemon juice, created by bartender Salvatore Calabrese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviation (cocktail)</span> Gin-based cocktail

The aviation is a cocktail made with gin, maraschino liqueur, crème de violette and lemon juice. Some recipes omit the crème de violette. It is served straight up, in a cocktail glass.

The corpse reviver family of named cocktails are sometimes drunk as alcoholic hangover tongue-in-cheek "cures", of potency or characteristics to be able to revive even a dead person. Some corpse reviver cocktail recipes have been lost to time, but several variations commonly thought to be tied to the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel remain, especially those espoused by Harry Craddock that originally date back to at least 1930 and are still being made. Many "reviver" variations exist and the word is sometimes used as a generic moniker for any morning-after cocktail, also known as a "hair of the dog".

Harry MacElhone was an early 20th century bartender, most famous for his role at Harry's New York Bar in Paris, which he bought in 1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mint lemonade</span> Lemonade flavored with mint

Mint lemonade is lemonade flavored with mint. It may be made with whole mint leaves, mint-flavored syrup, or pureed mint leaves, and may be served over ice cubes or blended with ice into a slush or smoothie. It is sometimes called a virgin mojito.

Takumi's aviation is a modern classic cocktail made with gin, maraschino liqueur, parfait d'amour, and lemon juice. It is served straight up, in a cocktail glass.

References

  1. 1 2 Graham, Colleen (15 November 2016). "Delilah Cocktail or White Lady Cocktail Gin Recipe". the spruce. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "White Lady cocktail". Difford's.
  3. "Minty White Lady cocktail". Difford's.
  4. 1 2 The Spirit of Gin: A Stirring Miscellany of the New Gin Revival. Simon & Schuster. 2014. ISBN   978-1-60433-532-3.
  5. 101 cocktails that shook the world: #5: The White Lady | Independent, The (London) | Find Articles at BNET.com
  6. The Savoy: Checking into History" Channel 4 TV UK
  7. Fauchald, Nick (2018). Cocktail Codex: Fundamentals, Formulas, Evolutions. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. p. 152. ISBN   978-1-60774-970-7.