Built like a Martinez but tilted toward orange and citrus, it sets London dry gin over sweet vermouth and Grand Marnier, so the juniper rides on a plush, bittersweet orange base. A quarter ounce of lemon reins in the sweetness, and the expressed twist lifts a bright citrus perfume off the surface of a cold, silky coupe.
Garnish: Lemon Peel
Shaken · Coupe · Up
add
Combine gin, Grand Marnier, sweet vermouth, and lemon juice in a shaker.
shake
Add ice and shake well until chilled.
strain
Fine strain into a chilled coupe.
express
Express a lemon twist over the surface.
garnish
Drop the lemon twist in as garnish.
Harry Craddock created the Leap Year at the American Bar of London's Savoy Hotel, mixing it for the festivities of February 29, 1928. Two years later he included it in The Savoy Cocktail Book with the boast that it was "responsible for more proposals than any other cocktail that has ever been mixed." His recipe called for two-thirds gin, a sixth each of Grand Marnier and Italian vermouth, a dash of lemon and a hard shake — proportions that the standard modern build still follows almost exactly.