Nothing but gin and bitters: a few dashes of Angostura coat a chilled glass, blushing very-cold Plymouth gin a faint pink and lacing its soft, juniper-led body with warm bark and spice. An expressed lemon twist lifts the nose, and the drink is aromatic, dry and bracingly spirit-forward, a pared-back sipper with nowhere for anything to hide.
Garnish: Lemon Peel
Stirred · Nick & Nora · Up
rinse
Chill the glass, then add the Angostura bitters and swirl to coat the inside; discard any excess.
add
Pour in the very-well-chilled Plymouth gin (stir briefly with ice and strain, or pour straight if pre-chilled). Traditionally served neat; an equal part of iced water may be added to taste.
garnish
Express a lemon twist over the surface and drop it in.
No single inventor is on record, and the tale most often told sets its beginnings aboard Royal Navy ships in the middle of the nineteenth century. Angostura bitters were taken to sea as a remedy for seasickness, and sailors are said to have added gin to make the medicine easier to swallow. The habit carried ashore, and by the 1870s the pairing had become a fashionable order in English clubs.