Gustings’ Grasshopper

Name: Gustings’ Grasshopper
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Cognac (brandy) — 5 ml (1/6 oz); Crème de Menthe green — 15 ml (1/2 oz); Crème de Menthe white — 10 ml (1/3 oz); Brown crème de cacao — 15 ml (1/2 oz); White Crème de Cacao — 30 ml (1 oz); Double cream/heavy cream — 70 ml (2 1/3 oz)

A sweet and creamy liqueur cocktail ∙ Dry shake ∙ 5 min ∙ 12.7% ABV ∙

Gustings’ Grasshopper is a creamy after-dinner cocktail of green and white crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and a little cognac, dry-shaken with heavy cream.

Ingredients

Servings

Garnish

Mint leaf

Instructions for 1 serving

Pre-chill a glass
Dry shake all ingredients without ice: Cognac (brandy) 5 mlCrème de Menthe green 15 mlCrème de Menthe white 10 mlBrown crème de cacao 15 mlWhite Crème de Cacao 30 mlDouble cream/heavy cream 70 ml
Fine strain into the chilled glass
Garnish with a mint leaf

Tips

There is no ice in the shake, so keep the liqueurs and cream refrigerated beforehand; otherwise the drink arrives warm.

History

The Gustings’ Grasshopper is the personal recipe of Paul Gustings, a career New Orleans bartender. He spent roughly fifteen of his three decades in the trade at Tujague's, the French Quarter restaurant credited as the birthplace of the Grasshopper. After a stint at another local institution, Broussard's, he returned to Tujague's and brought his own, more elaborate take on the house drink with him.

The standard Grasshopper is built from just crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and cream. Gustings uses both white and dark crème de cacao, both green and white crème de menthe, a touch of brandy, and a generous pour of heavy cream. The mix is batched in advance and kept refrigerated behind the bar. It is dry-shaken without ice to order and strained, which gives a smoother, denser texture than a drink shaken with ice.

Tujague's proprietor Philip Guichet is said to have created the Grasshopper in 1918 (some tellings say 1919) and to have won second place with it at a cocktail competition in New York. No documentary evidence has surfaced to confirm either the win or his authorship.