Shanghai Gin
Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 26.5% ABV ∙
The Shanghai Gin is an equal-parts shaken sour built on gin, Yellow Chartreuse, and Bénédictine, cut with fresh lemon and served up in a coupe. Crisp and bracingly tart up front, it settles into a honeyed, herbal warmth with a silky texture and a long, bittersweet finish.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: London dry gin 20 mlHerbal liqueur (e.g., Yellow Chartreuse) 20 mlBénédictine D.O.M. liqueur 20 mlLemon juice 20 ml
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Express a lemon twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Pre-chill the coupe before shaking so the fine-strained drink doesn't lose its chill sitting in a warm glass.
- Fine-strain to catch any ice shards or pulp, since nothing else in the build will mask a diluted or cloudy pour.
History
The Shanghai Gin's origin is not reliably documented. One widely repeated account holds that an unnamed bartender at The Slanted Door, a Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco, came across an old recipe for a drink called the Shanghai Gin Fizz in a forgotten bar manual and reworked it without the soda water into the modern shaken version, but this story traces to a single blog account and has not been corroborated by any period document or named creator. Reference guides that catalog the drink describe it only as a cocktail that surfaced in the late 2010s of unknown origin. It is often noted as structurally similar to the Last Word, built from equal parts gin, two herbal liqueurs, and citrus.
FAQ
What is the 2:1:1 rule in bartending?
It refers to a common sour template of two parts base spirit to one part sweetener to one part citrus, the ratio behind classics like the Daiquiri. The Shanghai Gin does not follow it; instead it splits gin, Yellow Chartreuse, Bénédictine, and lemon juice into four equal parts, letting the two liqueurs share the sweetening role.
