Apricot and passion fruit are a clever pairing: one soft and jammy, the other sharp and perfumed. Lime and a clean vodka base keep them in line, and the result is a pale gold, well chilled sour that drinks brighter than it looks.
1½ oz
vodkae.g. Absolut · Smirnoff · Grey Goose · Ketel One · Belvedere
½ oz
apricot brandy apricot liqueure.g. Marie Brizard · Bols · Rothman & Winter · DeKuyper
½ oz
passion fruit juice
½ oz
lime juice
Garnish: Cocktail cherry · Ice: Served up, no ice
Kensington Court Special
Fruity and tart with jammy apricot, perfumed passion fruit and a crisp lime finish. Medium strength and served very cold.
The name points to Kensington Court, a street of grand Victorian buildings in west London, and the drink is generally counted as an English creation. Some sources credit it to Joe Gilmore, the long-serving head bartender of the American Bar at the Savoy, who was known for creating drinks for guests and occasions, but documentation for this particular recipe is thin.
Stylistically it sits among the fruity vodka sours that bars mixed from the 1960s onwards, when vodka was replacing gin as the default base. Apricot brandy, a sweet apricot liqueur rather than a dry fruit brandy, was a common back-bar bottle of that era and appears in many English recipes.
Fruity and tart: apricot and passion fruit balanced by fresh lime on a clean vodka base.
A barspoon of apricot jam plus 5 ml syrup gives a similar fruit flavor, but double strain carefully.
It is sometimes credited to the Savoy bartender Joe Gilmore, but there is no firm documentation of its origin.
The perfect sound
A stylish afternoon in West London with a playful twist.
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