The Pink Lady cocktail

We’re attempting to move house after 31 years in the same place, a mind-boggling process that makes you realise how much stuff you have accumulated since you moved in as a twenty-something, all of whose worldly goods could fit into two loads in a Ford Escort. Apart from anything else, it’s made me consider all the dusty bottles that have accumulated, either at the back of the cupboard in the kitchen or on the shelves in the cellar—the latter tend to be ingredients for specific cocktails at Candlelight Club events of the past.

I know that, historically, if I’ve had a sample bottle of something interesting, I have a habit of not quite finishing it, in the belief that I might someday want to make a comparison between this product and whatever similar liquid I am currently examining. Consequently there are a lot of bottles down there with a centimetre or so of spirit at the bottom. But the Candlelight Club leftovers can sometimes be present in a couple of more or less full bottles, if we managed to misjudge how much stock we needed. We have Bärenjäger honey liqueur, Frangelico hazelnut liqueur and Briottet’s intriguing poppy liqueur—I suspect the latter was for one of our 1920s Shanghai themed events, riffing on an opium den concept…

Another of the Briottet liqueurs I found was their pink grapefruit offering, and it’s this that I’m focusing on today. You can buy this beverage on Amazon easily enough, and there are other grapefruit liqueurs out there too. I had the idea of using it to replace the curaçao/triple sec in a White Lady, to produce something I’m calling a Pink Lady. The classic White Lady has roughly two parts gin to one part triple sec and one part lemon juice, traditionally with some egg white to add a thick, silky texture and a foamy finish, though this is often omitted if you are a vegan, or simply can’t be bothered to separate an egg. Some recipes have slightly more of the liqueur (and Difford’s version keeps equal parts liqueur and lemon juice, but adds some sugar syrup). I found that the Briottet grapefruit liqueur (evidently made from actual grapefruit, judging by its cloudy appearance, rather than essential oils) is a bit subtler than something like Cointreau, so I ended up with 50% more of that than the lemon juice, to keep the grapefruit flavour present, then added a bit more gin so that it wasn’t too sweet.

Pink Lady

2 ½ parts gin (I was using Plymouth)

1 ½ parts grapefruit liqueur

1 part lemon juice

½–1 part egg white (optional: I’ve omitted it in the photo)

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a strip of grapefruit peel or a slice of grapefruit.

What’s intriguing about this cocktail is that, even though it has liqueur in it, the bitterness of the grapefruit combines with the tartness of the lemon juice and the lean juniper notes of the gin to make something that comes across as, not exactly austere, but quite grown up. It’s full of flavour, but quite sharp. You can imagine a 1930s newshound or private eye propping up the bar with one of these while he considers his current moral dilemma, and it makes a good aperitif, priming the tastebuds for dinner.

I see Giffard and Bols also make grapefruit liqueurs, so there are a few to choose from. I also imagine it will go well with rum—I’m thinking variations on the Papa Doble—and I seem to have combined it in the past with tequila (Mexicans apparently mostly drink their tequila with grapefruit soda).