Nadia George
May 02, 2024
The White Lady is a simple, silky drink, laced with gin and a sour finish. The recipe probably originated in the late 1920s and was supposedly created by Victor Cabrin who worked at Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
An early iteration of the drink was created by Harry MacElhone, using equal parts brandy, creme de menthe, and Cointrau, shaken and then strained into a glass, rather different from the way the drink is understood today.
This recipe appears in his 1922 ABC of Mixing Cocktails. He created the version we know today in 1929 while working in Paris. But this claim is disputed by the Savoy Hotel in London, who claim that the White Lady version was created at the hotel by Harry Craddock.
Ingredients: 40 ml gin, 30 ml Triple Sec, 20 ml fresh lemon juice
Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Shake well with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass