Pink Lady

The Pink Lady is a gin sour with egg white, a teaspoon of grenadine for colour and a teaspoon of cream for texture. It is one of the genuinely famous drinks of the early twentieth century, and one of the most unfairly maligned.

Its reputation suffered because of the name and the colour rather than anything in the glass. By the 1950s it had become shorthand for a drink ordered by someone who did not like the taste of alcohol, which is an odd thing to say about a drink that is an ounce and a half of neat gin with barely two teaspoons of anything else. Strip away the pink and it is close to a gin sour or a Clover Club, and nobody ever accused those of being timid.

The cream is what separates it from its relatives. A Clover Club uses raspberry syrup and lemon, no dairy; the Pink Lady swaps in grenadine and adds just enough cream to round the texture without turning it into a flip. A single teaspoon sounds negligible but it changes the mouthfeel noticeably, giving the foam a denser, silkier quality than egg white alone produces.

Older versions of the recipe sometimes include applejack, and those are worth trying if you have a bottle, since apple brandy against gin and grenadine is excellent. The version here is the common one.

Glass: Cocktail glass | Strength: Strong | Serves: 1 | Prep Time: 5 minutes

Bartenders tip: Dry shake first, always. Shaking without ice lets the egg white build structure before the cold sets it, and skipping this step is the difference between a thick white cap and a thin grey scum. Then shake again hard with ice. Use a London dry gin, since this needs the juniper backbone to justify itself. Fresh egg white beats cartoned for foam, though pasteurized whites work if raw egg concerns you. Serve it in a properly chilled glass and drink it while the head is still standing.