Flying Dutchman
Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 26.3% ABV ∙
The Flying Dutchman is a complex, spirit-forward sour built on Dutch genever, Bénédictine, Yellow Chartreuse, and fresh lemon juice, served up. A robust malty backbone meets dense layers of honeyed alpine herbs, while a sharp citrus acidity cuts through the richness for a bracing, dry finish.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Oude genever 45 mlBénédictine D.O.M. liqueur 20 mlHerbal liqueur (e.g., Yellow Chartreuse) 20 mlLemon juice 20 ml
- Strain into the chilled glass
- Garnish with a lemon slice
Tips
- Chill the coupe well before straining — this build has no ice in the glass, so a warm glass is the only thing that will dull it.
- Use fresh lemon juice rather than bottled — its brighter acidity is what keeps this sweet, liqueur-heavy build from tasting flat.
- Shake hard and strain quickly — the two liqueurs need real aeration to fold into the genever rather than sitting heavy and syrupy.
History
This version of the Flying Dutchman, built from genever, Bénédictine, yellow Chartreuse and lemon juice, is credited to bar manager Brian MacGregor, who created it around 2012 at Jardinière in San Francisco. It is essentially a genever-based reworking of the Monte Cassino, the rye whiskey, Bénédictine and yellow Chartreuse sour that bartender Damon Dyer had introduced two years earlier, with the genever standing in for rye to lean into the "Dutchman" name.
The name itself had already been used for an unrelated cocktail decades earlier. Cointreau's own history dates an earlier Flying Dutchman, a Dry Martini variation, to 1948, while other accounts trace a Dutch-published recipe to 1950, in a rare cocktail book called Internationale Cocktailgids, whose author Willem Slagter is sometimes credited as its creator, though no documentary proof of that claim has been found. Both the drink's ghost-ship namesake and its earlier, unrelated recipe left the name free to be reattached to MacGregor's genever version, which is the build now most associated with the Flying Dutchman.
FAQ
What is in a Flying Dutchman?
Dutch genever, Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur, an herbal liqueur such as Yellow Chartreuse, and fresh lemon juice, shaken with ice and strained up into a chilled coupe glass. It is garnished with a lemon slice and finishes at about 26% ABV.
Is a Flying Dutchman shaken or stirred?
Shaken. The lemon juice needs the aeration and quick chill of a shake, and shaking also helps fold together the two different liqueurs so neither sits separate from the spirit.
