Seventh Heaven

Drinks with citrus fruit are always refreshing and as such appropriate in sunny seasons. Why not go old-school and try this cocktail from the late 1920s? If you appreciate earthy and delicately bitter notes in your drink, this combination of a liqueur based on maraschino cherries and fresh pink grapefruit juice is seventh heaven.

4 cl gin

2 cl Luxardo

2 cl pink grapefruit juice

Shake the ingredients with ice. Strain into an elegant glass. Some people garnish it with a mint sprig.

The Seventh Heaven cocktail appears in Harry Craddock's famed book from 1930, The Savoy Cocktail Book. His recipe is by some bartenders called the French version, and instead of grapefruit it uses a now little known South African vermouth called Caperitif. The recipe given here is known as the English version. In this version the ratio of the ingredients moves up and down. If you prefer a gin-forward drink add less maraschino liqueur and grapefruit juice. If the drink is too sour, go easy on the grapefruit juice.

Source: O. Blunier, The Barkeeper's Golden Book, Zurich 1935.