Japanese Cocktail
A sweet and balanced brandy cocktail ∙ Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 27.7% ABV ∙
The Japanese Cocktail is a stirred Cognac drink of orgeat, Angostura bitters and strips of lemon peel, served up with an expressed lemon twist.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Stir all ingredients with ice: Lemon peel 2 pcsCognac 60 mlOrgeat (almond) syrup 10 mlAngostura aromatic bitters 3 dashes
- Strain into the chilled glass
- Express a lemon twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Orgeat separates in the bottle, so shake it well before measuring; a pour off the top is thin, and the drink comes out harsh and not sweet enough.
History
The Japanese Cocktail first appeared in Jerry Thomas's 1862 book How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, and is considered one of the few recipes in that book that Thomas likely invented himself rather than collected from others. Despite its name, the drink uses no Japanese ingredients, being built from cognac, orgeat syrup, and aromatic bitters.
Cocktail historian David Wondrich has traced the likely reason for the name to June 1860, when the first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States wrapped up its tour with several weeks in New York City. The delegation lodged at the Metropolitan Hotel just a block from Thomas's bar. A young member of the delegation, Tateishi Onojiro Noriyuki, known to New Yorkers as "Tommy," became a local celebrity for his fondness for both women and drink. He is thought to have inspired Thomas to name a new cocktail in his honor, though no contemporary document states this directly. The original recipe called for Boker's (sometimes rendered Bogart's) bitters, a cardamom-forward bitters common in the mid-19th century, which later gave way to Angostura bitters after Boker's ceased production during Prohibition.
FAQ
What is in a Japanese Cocktail?
60 ml Cognac, 10 ml orgeat (almond) syrup, three dashes of Angostura bitters and two strips of lemon peel, which are stirred with the drink.
How do you make a Japanese Cocktail?
Shake the orgeat bottle well first, since it separates. Stir 60 ml Cognac, 10 ml orgeat, three dashes of Angostura and two strips of lemon peel with ice. Strain into a chilled coupe and express a lemon twist over the top. It is stirred because there is no juice or egg to aerate.
Is the Japanese Cocktail actually from Japan?
No, it is a Cognac-based drink with no sake, shochu, or other Japanese ingredient. The name is thought to honor a member of the first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States, which spent several weeks in New York in 1860.
