Sours · Gin · IBA official
Clean and pale, the White Lady is a gin sour sweetened with orange liqueur instead of sugar. Juniper and bitter orange meet sharp lemon, and a little egg white gives an optional silky finish.
1¼ oz
London dry gine.g. Tanqueray · Gordon's · Beefeater · Bombay Sapphire · Sipsmith
1 oz
triple sec Cointreau is the classic choicee.g. Cointreau · Bols · Marie Brizard · DeKuyper · Giffard
¾ oz
lemon juice
½ oz
egg white optional, for a light foam (optional)
Garnish: Lemon twist · Ice: Served up, no ice
White Lady
Crisp and bright, with sharp lemon, sweet bitter orange and a dry juniper backbone. With egg white it becomes softer and silkier.
The White Lady is usually linked to Harry MacElhone, the Scottish bartender later famous for Harry's New York Bar in Paris. According to the most common account, his first White Lady, made in London around 1919, used crème de menthe with triple sec and lemon, and he later replaced the mint liqueur with gin, the version that survives today.
Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930 printed a White Lady of gin, Cointreau and lemon, and the Savoy's American Bar has its own claim to the drink. In the same book a nearly identical recipe appears as the Delilah, which is why the two names are often used together. The drink belongs to the sidecar family of sours sweetened with orange liqueur, and the International Bartenders Association lists it among its Unforgettables.
Practically yes. The Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930 lists a Delilah with gin, Cointreau and lemon, the same formula as the modern White Lady.
The IBA recipe does not, but many bars add a little egg white for a smoother texture and foam.
It is usually credited to Harry MacElhone, who is said to have switched from crème de menthe to gin, but the Savoy's American Bar also claims the drink.
The perfect sound
White gloves and polished floors in a grand hotel bar.
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