Almost pure gin, tinted pale pink by aromatic bitters and scented with a whisper of anise. Stirred until ice cold, it is a stark, dry aperitif with nothing to soften it.
2 oz
London dry gin or Plymouth gine.g. Tanqueray · Gordon's · Beefeater · Bombay Sapphire · Sipsmith
3 dash
Angostura bittersBuy on Amazon →
2 dash
absinthe (optional)e.g. Pernod · La Clandestine · Kübler · St. George · Lucid
Garnish: Lemon twist · Ice: Served up, no ice
Gin Pahit
Dry juniper, warm clove and cinnamon from the bitters and a faint anise lift. Very strong and not sweet at all.
Pahit is the Malay word for bitter, and Gin Pahit was the name used in British colonial Malaya and Singapore for gin with Angostura bitters. It is essentially the same drink as the Pink Gin of the Royal Navy, where Angostura was valued as a stomach remedy and gin was the officers' spirit.
The drink was a fixture of colonial clubs and appears in fiction set in the region in the first half of the twentieth century. Many recipes serve it at room temperature with water; later versions stir it over ice, and some add a dash of absinthe or curaçao for complexity.
Pahit is Malay for bitter.
Essentially yes. Gin Pahit was the name used in colonial Malaya, sometimes with a dash of absinthe or curaçao.
No, it is one of the driest cocktails there is, unless you add a little syrup.
The perfect sound
A colonial veranda at dusk with ceiling fans and distant birdcalls.
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