Pegu Club Cocktail
Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 28.1% ABV ∙
The Pegu Club is a shaken gin sour with orange curaçao, lime and dashes of Angostura and orange bitters, named for a colonial club in Rangoon. Bright and tart with a silky texture, the citrus and bitters knit into a crisp, lingering finish that never turns sharp or cloying.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: London dry gin 45 mlOrange curaçao liqueur 10 mlLime juice 10 mlLime cordial 5 mlSugar syrup 5 mlAngostura aromatic bitters 1 dashOrange bitters 1 dash
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Garnish with a lime wedge
Tips
- Shake hard and fine-strain — the lime cordial and juice both need real aeration to knit with the curaçao.
- Use a London dry gin with enough juniper backbone to stand up to the curaçao and lime cordial.
- Add both bitters right before shaking so the Angostura and orange notes integrate rather than float on top.
History
The Pegu Club cocktail takes its name from the Pegu Club, a social club established in the 1880s just outside Rangoon, Burma, whose members were largely British government officials, military officers, and businessmen; the club itself was named after the nearby Pegu River. The gin, orange curaçao, and lime drink became the club's signature cocktail, said to have been served to its members as a restorative in the tropical heat.
The recipe first appeared in print in "Harry" of Ciro's 1923 book ABC of Mixing Cocktails, which called for preserved Rose's lime cordial rather than fresh lime juice. It gained wider fame after Harry Craddock included it in The Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930, praising it as a favorite that had traveled and was requested around the world; later books, including Craddock's, dropped the "Rose's" brand name when listing the lime juice, leaving later bartenders uncertain when fresh lime juice began replacing the cordial. No individual bartender is credited as its inventor.
The drink faded from use after Burma's independence in 1948 until bartender Audrey Saunders revived it as the namesake and signature pour of her New York City bar Pegu Club, which opened in 2005 and became an influential force in the American craft-cocktail revival before closing in 2020.
FAQ
What is a Pegu Club cocktail?
The Pegu Club is a shaken gin cocktail balanced with orange curaçao and lime, served up in a coupe glass with a lime wedge garnish.
How do you make a Pegu Club?
Shake the gin, orange curaçao, lime juice, lime cordial, sugar syrup, and both bitters hard with ice, then fine-strain into a pre-chilled coupe glass and garnish with a lime wedge. The double shake of Angostura and orange bitters is what gives this build its dry, layered finish.
How does the Pegu Club compare to a gin sour?
The Pegu Club is essentially a gin sour built around orange curaçao instead of a plain sweetener, with Angostura and orange bitters added for a dry, spiced edge that a standard gin sour lacks. Where a gin sour is simply gin, citrus, and sugar, the Pegu Club's curaçao and bitters give it more depth and a bitter-orange finish.
