Lucien Gaudin
Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 30.4% ABV ∙
The Lucien Gaudin stirs gin with triple sec, a red bitter such as Campari and dry vermouth in equal measures, finished with an orange twist. Bittersweet and bracingly dry, it glides with a silky weight before a crisp, herbal finish laced with orange oils lingers.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Stir all ingredients with ice: London dry gin 40 mlTriple sec 20 mlRed bitter 20 mlDry vermouth 20 ml
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Express an orange twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Pre-chill the glass before straining so the drink stays cold from the first sip, since fine-straining leaves no ice to hold the temperature.
- Measure the triple sec and red bitter carefully; both are assertive and can easily overpower the gin if over-poured.
- Stir until well-chilled and diluted, about 30 seconds, so the four spirits fully marry before straining.
History
The Lucien Gaudin cocktail first appeared in print in Cocktails de Paris Présentes, a 1929 Paris cocktail book by the entertainer Georges Gabriel Thenon, who wrote under the pen name Rip. The book credits the drink to a bartender known only as Charlie of Le Cheval Pie, a Parisian restaurant operating in the late 1920s, and records that the cocktail won the Honorary Cup at the Professional Bartenders Championship in Paris on February 2, 1929.
It was named for Lucien Gaudin, a champion French fencer who won gold and silver medals across the 1920, 1924, and 1928 Olympics and is thought to have been a regular at Le Cheval Pie. Beyond the bare credit to Charlie, nothing further is documented about who actually devised the recipe or why it was dedicated to Gaudin. The drink built on the already-established Negroni template of gin, red bitter liqueur, and vermouth, but swapped in dry vermouth for sweet and added orange liqueur, giving it a drier, more citrus-forward profile.
The cocktail's earliest known English-language listing came nearly two decades later, in Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide, published in the late 1940s, after which it remained a relatively obscure entry in cocktail manuals for much of the twentieth century before being rediscovered by modern bartenders and writers revisiting Negroni-family drinks.
FAQ
What is in a Lucien Gaudin cocktail?
London dry gin, triple sec, a red bitter such as Campari, and dry vermouth, stirred with ice and fine-strained, then finished with an expressed orange twist. It is a spirit-forward drink at just over 30% ABV, served up in a chilled coupe glass.
