Gin Alexander

The original Alexander cocktail: a pre-Prohibition classic of gin, white crème de cacao, and cream that became the ancestor of the Brandy Alexander.

The Gin Alexander is one of the oldest chocolate cocktails in the American bartending canon. Origins are disputed, with at least two plausible accounts on record. The first comes from a cutting in the October 1915 Philadelphia Inquirer, linking the drink to a bartender at the Racquet Club who created it in honor of Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander during that year's World Series. A second account connects the cocktail to Troy Alexander, a bartender at Rector's, a pre-Prohibition lobster restaurant in New York City. The drink was first published in Hugo Ensslin's 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks, where it appeared as an equal-parts recipe of gin, crème de cacao, and sweet cream. Harry Craddock included both the gin-based original and the newer brandy-based variation in his 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, designating them Alexander Cocktail No. 1 and No. 2 respectively. During Prohibition, the cream and nutmeg garnish helped disguise the harsh character of homemade gin, making the cocktail a popular choice. Over the following decades the Brandy Alexander displaced the original, but craft bartenders have increasingly returned to the gin version for its lighter, more botanical character.