Suffering Bastard
A cocktail from Egypt
- Method
- Shaken
- Style
- Tropical
- Glass
- Tiki glass
- Time
- 5 min
Ingredients
- 30mlGin
No Gin? London Dry Gin — juniper forward, and what these recipes assume if you have not got a preference · Old Tom Gin — sweeter and rounder, the older style · Navy Strength Gin — a lot stronger, so save it for a clear afternoon
- 30mlBourbonit's common to sub this out for a Cognac too
No Bourbon? Rye Whiskey — drier and spicier — more bite, less of the vanilla sweetness
- 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
- 15mlLime Juicefreshly squeezed
- 2 dashesAngostura
No Angostura? Old Fashioned Bitters — close to Ango, with the same spicy notes — just not the standard bottle
- 120mlGinger Beer
- Garnish
- Mint, an orchid and pineapple fronds
Make it well
Shaken, properly.
Add all your ingredients, minus the ginger beer, into your and add
it up for 10 seconds and pour everything into a fun glass or mug
Top up with the Ginger beer and more crushed ice if needed
Garnish with fun things such as, mint, orchids, pineapple fronds and a straw
On the palate
It's SO good, much like a mule drink - you get a lot of ginger up front. The bourbon and gin are pretty mellow in this. So easy to drink, the woody and barrel notes come through the more we drink. Further down the gin comes into play. Just a delight.
Where it came from
This cocktail has its origins in Cairo in 1942, deep into the North Africa campaign of the Second World War. Joe Scialom, bartender at Shepheard's Hotel, mixed it for officers who had been drinking all night and needed to be upright and useful by morning. That's the actual brief here: it's a hangover cure first and a cocktail second, which is what the ginger beer and the bitters are doing in the glass. It worked, and word got round. The story goes that troops began ordering the stuff sent up to the front lines by the jug. Those poor suffering bastards.
Keep pouring
If you like the Suffering Bastard, try these
The bartender’s note
One drink, one story, one bottle worth buying.
Thursday evening, so you have time to shop. No more than that.