Blue Moon Cocktail (1940 recipe)
Dry shake ∙ 5 min ∙ 26.7% ABV ∙
The Blue Moon Cocktail is a gin sour with Crème de Violette, lemon juice, and egg white, double-shaken and served up for a pale violet color. Silky and softly floral, the violet liqueur perfumes a tart lemon backbone while the egg white lends a plush, cloud-like texture through a dry, gin-led finish.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: London dry gin 60 mlCrème de Violette liqueur 10 mlLemon juice 10 mlSugar syrup 5 mlEgg white 10 ml
- Strain back into the shaker
- Dry shake (without ice)
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Garnish with raspberries
Tips
- Shake the gin, Crème de Violette, lemon juice, syrup and egg white with ice first, then strain the liquid back into the empty shaker.
- Dry shake that chilled mix hard for about 15 seconds without ice to build a stable foam without breaking the emulsion.
- Fine-strain into the chilled coupe to remove any ice shards, giving a smooth, dense head for the raspberry garnish to sit on.
- Measure the Crème de Violette carefully since even a small overpour past the 10 ml mark pushes the color and sweetness out of balance.
History
The Blue Moon is a Prohibition-era gin cocktail whose earliest documented recipe appears in bartender Hugo Ensslin's 1917 book Recipes for Mixed Drinks, where it combined gin and dry vermouth with orange bitters, a dash of crème Yvette, and a claret float. Cocktail historians also trace the drink to Joel's, a New York bar run by Joel Rinaldo in the 1910s, though accounts note that recipes for a "Blue Moon" appear as far back as 1911 with little agreement among them, since Rinaldo never published an official formula. The vermouth and wine float were dropped after Prohibition, leaving a simpler gin, lemon juice, and violet-liqueur build close to the Aviation but swapping in crème Yvette or crème de violette for maraschino liqueur. A later version of the drink, made with crème de violette, lemon juice, sugar, and egg white, is commonly dated to around 1940 and credited to Oscar Tschirky, the longtime maître d'hôtel at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel known as "Oscar of the Waldorf"; this formula appeared on the back label of Crème Yvette bottles from that decade. The cocktail's name refers to its pale violet-blue hue, though the color of the historic recipes has been described inconsistently, ranging from deep purple to a grayish blue.
FAQ
What is in a Blue Moon Cocktail?
London dry gin, Crème de Violette, fresh lemon juice, sugar syrup, and egg white, double-shaken and strained into a chilled glass. The Crème de Violette gives the drink its signature pale violet tint and floral perfume.
Is a Blue Moon Cocktail shaken or stirred?
Shaken, and double-shaken specifically. It goes with ice first to chill and dilute, then back into the empty shaker for an ice-free second shake, which is what builds the egg white's foam.
What glass is a Blue Moon Cocktail served in?
A coupe glass, served up and garnished with a raspberry.
Does the Blue Moon Cocktail contain raw egg?
This recipe uses pasteurized egg white, which whips into the same silky foam as raw egg white but removes the salmonella risk. It is also vegetarian and lactose-free, since no dairy or animal fat is used elsewhere in the build.
Can I make a Blue Moon Cocktail without egg white?
Yes, omitting the egg white still gives the same gin, Crème de Violette, and lemon flavor, though the drink loses its soft foam and silkier texture. Some bartenders substitute aquafaba for a vegan foam with a similar effect.
How is Blue Moon different from Aviation?
Blue Moon is very close to an Aviation, but it uses Crème Yvette or crème de violette in place of maraschino, which gives it a more floral profile and a more pronounced purple color.
