CLASSIC COCKTAIL · 1920–1933
Pegu Club
The Rangoon club’s house cocktail: gin, orange curaçao, lime and a double dose of bitters.
1920sHistorical classicResearched
The Pegu Club was created in the 1920s at the ex-pat gentlemen’s club of the same name in British colonial Rangoon, Burma. It first appears in Harry McElhone’s 1923 ABC of Mixing Cocktails and in Harry Craddock’s 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, which called it “the favourite cocktail at the Pegu Club, Burma… asked for round the world”. Early recipes used lime cordial; modern versions often prefer fresh lime.
THE RECIPEBright, bitter-orange and aromatic
Ingredients
- Gin60 ml
- Orange curaçao15 ml
- Lime juice15 ml
- Angostura bitters1 dash
- Peychaud’s bitters1 dash
- Lime wheelto garnish
Method
Shake the gin, curaçao, lime and both bitters with ice until well chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with a lime wheel.
Coupe · no ice · lime wheel