Lion's Tail
Nobody knows who L.A. Clarke was
- Method
- Shaken
- Style
- Classic
- Glass
- Footed rocks glass
- Time
- 5 min
Ingredients
- 45mlBourbonEagle Rare recommended
No Bourbon? Rye Whiskey — drier and spicier — more bite, less of the vanilla sweetness
- 15mlAllspice DramSt. Elizabeth recommended
- 22.5mlLime Juicefreshly squeezed
- 7.5mlDemerara Syruprich, 2:1
No Demerara Syrup? Simple Syrup — clean sweetness with none of the molasses depth — fine in a sour, a real loss in a tiki drink
- 2 dashesAngostura
No Angostura? Old Fashioned Bitters — close to Ango, with the same spicy notes — just not the standard bottle
- Garnish
- Lime twist
Make it well
Shaken, properly.
Add the bourbon, allspice dram, lime juice, and to your .
Add ice and for 10-12 seconds. Give this one a proper hard shake, not a gentle one, it needs the and aeration to tame the proof and the spice (shake it soft and it drinks too boozy and sharp).
into a chilled coupe.
a lime over the glass to release the oils, then drop it in.
On the palate
On the nose it's warm and spiced straight away, clove and pimento from the allspice dram over a hit of lime oil from the twist. First sip leads with the bourbon, vanilla and oak, before the lime cuts in fast and the allspice dram's baking-spice sweetness rounds it out. The demerara syrup gives you a deeper, almost caramel sweetness than plain sugar would, and the two dashes of Angostura tie the spice notes together rather than sitting on top of them. Shake it hard and you'll get a light, frothy texture despite the proof behind it. Finishes long and warm, spice and oak hanging about after the citrus fades. It drinks stronger than a standard sour, so watch how quickly you get through it.
Where it came from
The Lion's Tail first appeared in print in 1937, in William J. Tarling's Café Royal Cocktail Book, published in London to mark King George VI's coronation. The recipe carries a simple byline: "Invented by L.A. Clarke." Beyond that name, nothing is known, not even whether Clarke worked behind a bar in London or was just passing through. Some drinks historians reckon the drink is older than its first print date and was actually born in America during Prohibition, since "twisting the lion's tail" was old slang for needling the British, an odd name for a drink invented on British soil. Whichever it is, the mystery hasn't hurt it. The drink fell out of circulation for decades until Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails brought it back into print in 2004, and it's been a favourite of anyone with allspice dram in the cabinet ever since.
Keep pouring
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The bartender’s note
One drink, one story, one bottle worth buying.
Thursday evening, so you have time to shop. No more than that.