Ingredients
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6 cl of cognac
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0,5 cl of red curacao
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0,5 cl of raspberry syrup
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0,25 cl of Maraschino liqueur
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2 dashes of Angostura bitters
Directions
The East India cocktail is an ancient Cognac-based drink, strong, with a complex and mottled flavor, but very velvety, which was particularly loved by the British colonizers who lived in East India, hence the name.
It is an old-fashioned cocktail and also from the ingredients you can see the nineteenth-century setting of the drink, quite static, but this does not mean that it is a cocktail without charm, quite the opposite. Small doses of red curacao, raspberry syrup, Maraschino and angostura are added to a Cognac base to broaden the aromatic and gustatory spectrum of the famous French wine distillate. You read that right, it is not a mistake, you will have to find red curacao, not the classic orange curacao, it is rarer, but it has a particular taste, sweeter and more herbaceous and less citrusy.
History of the East India cocktail
It was born in 1882 by the hand of the legendary Harry Johnson, who included it in his historical recipe book, one of the first and most important: the Bartender Manual. You will already know the legendary Harry, one of the founding fathers of modern mixology, thanks to tireless work on recipes, ingredients and spirits, but also to the contribution he made to the birth of a culture of good drinking, thanks to the publication of his recipe book. The Bijou cocktail is his other great masterpiece, a drink with an immortal charm, but certainly not as sweet and enveloping as East India.
Ingredients and doses to make the East India cocktail
- 6 cl of Cognac
- 0.5 cl of red curacao
- 0.5 cl of raspberry syrup
- 0.25 cl of Maraschino
- 2 drops of angostura
How to make the East India cocktail
Fill a mixing glass with ice, pour the cognac, curacao, Maraschino, raspberry syrup, angostura, mix gently to dissolve the syrup, mix the ingredients and cool them properly. Pour into a well-cooled cup and decorate with a citrus peel.
