Cocktail of the week: Rattlesnake

Cocktail of the week: Rattlesnake

This week, we celebrate the Year of the Snake with a rye whiskey classic from Henry Savoy's 1930 cocktail book

Cocktails | 31 Jan 2025 | By Lucy Schofield

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Surely today is the Friday-est of Fridays? Not only have we made it to the end of the week, but it's the last day of what has felt like a particularly long January (is it this long every year? Are you sure?). A cocktail to celebrate the weekend is definitely on the cards. 

 

This week, our pick is a Rattlesnake. Essentially a whiskey sour with an addition of absinthe, this foam-topped cocktail comes from Henry Savoy's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book. Alongside the recipe, Savoy notes that it is "so called because it will either cure Rattlesnake bite, or kill Rattlesnakes, or make you see them". We've chosen the Rattlesnake in honour of Lunar New Year which took place earlier this week, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. 

 

Ingredients

52.5ml rye whiskey
22.5ml lemon juice
15ml sugar syrup
3 dashes absinthe
1 egg white (or 15ml aquafaba, for a vegan version)

Bitters

 

Method

Shake all ingredients except bitters with ice then strain back into the shaker. Dry shake without ice. Fine strain into a chilled coupe glass. Top with a few dashes of bitters, pulling them through the foam with a cocktail stick to form a snake.

 

Click here to catch up on previous cocktail of the week selections.

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