The Shanghai Gin Cocktail

Somewhere in the depths of San Francisco, at a bar and Vietnamese restaurant called The Slanted Door an un-named bartender found an old bar book... and perhaps a hint of Shanghai in the 1930s...

The Slanted Door, Vietnamese Restaurant
(image credit Taylor Davidson)

Apparently the book did not amount to much, but within its pages was the seed of a truly great drink: The Shanghai Gin Cocktail.

Shanghai Gin Cocktail
(image credit T. Marshall Fawley III)

The seed was a recipe for a drink called simply The Shanghai Gin Fizz.
The bartender tried it, found it indifferent but with some merit so decided to re-invent it - minus the fizz of soda water. From this arose the Shanghai Gin cocktail which has been a slow underground hit since (at least with those frequenting The Slanted Door...)

We think it should be known further afield so here is the recipe (which has more than a passing resemblance to that other 1920's stand by of classic cocktails, The Last Word)...

The Shanghai Gin Cocktail:

1/4 No.3 Gin

1/4 Yellow Chartreuse

1/4 Benedictine

1/4 lemon juice

Combine in a classic three-piece shaker with cube ice and give it what for. 

Strain into a pre-chilled martini glass and then sup.

I recommend giving this drink a whirl as a pre-dinner aperitif next time you drop into Ancestral Bar & Restaurant on Courtenay Place - ask for the No.3 Gin as the grapefruit note really sets this drink off.

however....

Ancestral Bar (& Restaurant) cannot leave well enough alone, but must make the drink in its own image.
The Shanghai Gin Cocktail as promulgated by the Slanted Door may well do service in San Francisco,
but the Wellington scene demands something altogether more serious, more dry, and perhaps more unequivocal...

After much late night tinkering, twisting, and supping
(all in the line of duty:... 'tis a far, far nobler thing I do...')
an Ancestral Original was created:

The Shanghaied Gin Cocktail:

40ml Genever Gin
10ml Yellow Chartreuse
10ml Benedictine
juice of 1/4 of a medium lemon
3-4 dashes of absinthe

Shake briefly but with alacrity in a two-piece or Boston shaker. 
Double-strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a twist of lemon peel,
(the oils having been expressed above the glass).


This is a drink with a stiff upper lip, maybe even a hint of 'spy' what with its James Bond's Vesper method and finished appearance.