Gin Cocktails
White Lady Cocktail
White Lady Cocktail Ingredients
1.75 oz. Tanqueray No. 10 Gin
1 oz. Cointreau
0.75 oz. Fresh lemon juice
1 Egg white
Garnish
none
White Lady Cocktail Preparation
Separate the egg whites from the yolk and place the whites in a shaker. Add the remaining ingredients. Combine tins without ice and shake hard for fifteen seconds. Add ice and shake very hard. Fine strain into a coupe or stemmed glass. Allow the meringue from the egg to rise to the top and set in a thick layer. Garnish with expressed lemon oil if desired.
White Lady Cocktail Story
Credited to Harry McElhone while he was tending bar at London’s Ciro Club, the White Lady first appeared in his Harry’s ABCs of Mixing Cocktails in 1929, though his recipes changed wildly over time. Back in London, around 1919, he was making a sour with crème de menthe and Cointreau as a base. By the time he was tending bar at Harry’s New York in Paris, he swapped out the crème de menthe for gin, which would earn the drink’s publication in Harry Craddock’s 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book. Harry’s simple and light gin-based recipe would become the standard, however many New York City bartenders who brought the drink back into vogue in the mid-century added egg white, elevating the cocktail to an ethereal classic.