Barney Barnato
A brandy cocktail named for Barney Barnato — the Whitechapel-born magnate whose Kimberley diamond empire rivaled De Beers until his mysterious death at sea in 1897.
- 1½ ozcognac
- ¾ ozlillet blanc
- ¼ ozorange curacao
- 1 dashangostura bitters
- Lemon twistgarnish
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Barney Barnato was one of the most extraordinary figures of the Victorian era: a self-made millionaire who rose from London's East End poverty to become a dominant force in the South African diamond and gold rush of the 1880s. Born Barney Isaacs in Whitechapel in 1851, he emigrated to the Kimberley diamond fields in 1873 and built an empire that rivaled Cecil Rhodes's De Beers. In 1889, Barnato sold his Kimberley Central Diamond Mining Company to Rhodes for what was then the largest cheque ever written. He died in 1897 under mysterious circumstances, falling overboard from a passenger ship between Cape Town and Southampton. This brandy-based cocktail pays tribute to his audacious, larger-than-life character — bold and potent, like the man it commemorates.
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