IBA
Porto Flip – IBA
Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 16.8% ABV ∙
The Porto Flip is an IBA egg cocktail built from tawny port, brandy, and a whole egg yolk, shaken and strained until silky. The chilled pour feels plush and custardy on the tongue, thick from the yolk, with a warming finish and a faint grated-nutmeg whisper on top.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Brandy 15 mlTawny port 45 mlEgg yolk 10 ml
- Strain into the chilled cocktail glass
- Garnish with grated nutmeg
Tips
- Pre-chill the glass before straining — the drink has no ice in the final serve, so a warm glass flattens it fast.
- Use a fresh, cold egg yolk straight from the fridge; it emulsifies more reliably than one at room temperature.
- Shake hard and long enough to fully aerate the yolk — a short shake leaves the texture thin instead of creamy.
History
Porto Flip is the name the International Bartenders Association uses on its official cocktail list for the classic Port Flip, listing it among the "Unforgettables" with a fixed specification of brandy, tawny port, and egg yolk, shaken and strained into a cocktail glass with grated nutmeg. The drink already appeared on IBA rosters by 1987, alongside other after-dinner classics such as the Alexander and Rusty Nail, so the listing standardized an existing recipe rather than creating a new one.
The drink itself traces to Port Flip, first recorded by Jerry Thomas in The Bartender's Guide: How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon Vivant's Companion, an 1862 book that also later carried an 1887 edition citing the "Port Wine Flip." It belongs to the flip family of drinks, a style dating to 17th-century England in which raw egg is shaken with a spirit or fortified wine and sugar to produce a rich, frothy texture. The IBA's Porto Flip keeps that same brandy-and-port build, differing from most early published versions mainly in using only the egg yolk rather than a whole egg.
