The Mayfair
Luckily (?) for us, this Mayfair cocktail has several different recipes, depending on what you stumble across. It’s a gin cocktail that is rich in flavor, and really apricot-y in its tastes. I think the gin is a bit in the background, but recipes were meant to be played with, right?
The Mayfair dates back to the Prohibition Era, courtesy of our friend Harry, world-famous bartender at the Savoy in London. Do pick up his book if you don’t have it, and try some of his amazing creations.
The Mayfair
Ingredients
- .5 Oz Gin
- .25 Oz. Apricot brandy
- .25 Oz. Orange juice
- Cloves To muddle, or to garnish, or to ignore.
- 1 Dash Allspice dram Optional – you could also use an allspice or clove syrup.
- Orange Twist Optional garnish.
Instructions
- Chill your martini glass, and assemble your ingredients.
- Combine your gin, orange juice, and apricot brandy in a shaker with ice.
- Mix things up!
- Serve up, with an orange twist.
What’s up with the cloves? Or the dram? Or the weird allspice stuff?
The first iteration of this classic cocktail I made was just the gin, apricot brandy, and orange juice. Pretty good! Lots of apricot popping, and pretty good!
If you dig deeper, you find that many recipes call for some sort of spice or clove to add some depth. You have some options here:
- Muddle some cloves in your shaker, then add your ingredients and mix.
- Use a dash or so of some allspice dram. What the heck is this? It’s a liqueur seasoned with allspice flavors. It’s popular in tiki drinks, and it also goes by the super not sexy name of pimento dram.
- Go for some clove syrup. This will also add volume to this drink, and a bit of sweet, and the clove flavor.
- Garnish with cloves. These tiny powerhouses of flavor add a lot on the nose of the Mayfair, and might be just enough spice to balance the apricot flavors.
You can also double this recipe if you feel like it’s just not enough volume. But considering that it’s mostly alcohol, pace yourself.
If Prohibition cocktail are your jam, try the Gibson for brine goodness, or the Aviation for some sweet.