Lion’s Tail
A sour and spicy whiskey cocktail ∙ Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 23.6% ABV ∙
The Lion's Tail is a shaken bourbon sour with allspice dram, lime juice, and sugar syrup, plus an optional dash of Angostura bitters, served up.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Bourbon 60 mlAllspice dram liqueur 10 mlLime juice 15 mlSugar syrup 5 mlAngostura aromatic bitters 1 dash (opt.)
- Strain into the chilled glass
- Express a lime twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Allspice dram is fiercely spiced, so hold it to 10 ml; pour heavy and the bourbon disappears behind it.
History
The Lion's Tail first appeared in print in William James "Billy" Tarling's Café Royal Cocktail Book, published in London in 1937, where the recipe is credited to L. A. Clarke. Little else is known about Clarke, but the bourbon base and the name have led many drink historians to believe the creator was an American bartender who had decamped to London during Prohibition.
The name is widely tied to "twisting the lion's tail," an old American idiom for needling the British by invoking the lion on their royal coat of arms, a phrase that gained fresh currency amid the Anglophobia of the interwar years.
After decades as a minor curiosity, the drink was revived by modern craft bartenders in the 2000s and 2010s, among them Jack McGarry of New York's The Dead Rabbit, who reworked it.
FAQ
What's in a Lion's Tail?
Bourbon, allspice dram liqueur, fresh lime juice, sugar syrup, and an optional dash of Angostura bitters.
How do you make a Lion's Tail?
Shake the bourbon, allspice dram, lime juice, sugar syrup, and the optional bitters hard with ice, strain into a chilled coupe, and express a lime twist over the drink as garnish.
