Abbey Cocktail

A citrus-forward gin cocktail from the golden age of cocktails, blending gin with Lillet Blanc, fresh orange juice, and aromatic bitters.

The Abbey Cocktail appears in Harry Craddock's 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, one of the most influential cocktail reference works of the 20th century. Craddock, an American bartender who had left the United States during Prohibition and taken up residence at the Savoy Hotel's American Bar in London, compiled the book from the bar's working recipes and published it in the year that coincided with the Savoy's fiftieth anniversary. The American Bar at the Savoy had been operating since 1893, making it one of the oldest continuously operating hotel cocktail bars in the world, and by 1930 it was the foremost destination for sophisticated drinking in London. The gin in the Abbey Cocktail was a natural choice for an early 20th-century bar: the British had been distilling gin since the late 17th century, following the Dutch gin tradition introduced during William of Orange's reign, and by the 1920s London Dry gin was the dominant style worldwide. Lillet Blanc — the Bordeaux-based aromatized wine produced in Podensac, France, which had been available commercially since 1872 — provided the aromatic, slightly honeyed counterpoint that opened the drink up beyond the juniper-forward spirit. Fresh orange juice and orange bitters completed the formula, creating a drink that is bright, slightly bitter, and genuinely elegant. The Abbey's name, suggesting a refined, quietly civilized institution, fit perfectly with the Savoy's self-image during the interwar period.