The Lucien Gaudin is a clas­sic but obscure cock­tail that cel­e­brates the well dec­o­rat­ed French ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry fencer of the same name. You may notice it shares sim­i­lar­i­ties with the Negroni. Both fea­ture gin and Cam­pari. The Lucien Gaudin how­ev­er has the dis­tinct pres­ence of orange, both from the fla­vor with the Coin­treau and in aro­ma of the orange peel gar­nish. The Lucien Gaudin is a dry, crisp clas­sic that is light on its feet.

Lucian Gaudin

• 1 oz gin
• 1/2 oz Cointreau
• 1/2 oz Campari 
• 1/2 oz dry vermouth
• Gar­nish with an orange twist

I’ve cre­at­ed a mod­ern twist on the clas­sic above that shifts the ori­en­ta­tion from orange to grape­fruit. With the craft brew scene gain­ing pop­u­lar­i­ty in the Unit­ed States I decid­ed to fea­ture a famil­iar fla­vor pro­file, the pair­ing of hops and grape­fruit. I made a grape­fruit hop syrup that gives this recipe a mag­nif­i­cent cit­rus and hop aro­ma. And I paired that with the cit­rusy qui­nine bite of Coc­chi Amer­i­cano.  I also like how the sub­tle Artemisia flower notes pair with the hops. Blue­coat Gin is my choice of gin here. Feel free to devi­ate. I chose it because its aro­ma and palette includes a lot of citrus.

The Fencer

• 1 1/2 oz Blue­coat Gin
• 3/4 oz Coc­chi Americano 
• 1/2 oz Campari 
• 1/2 oz grape­fruit hop syrup
• 2 dash­es of Post Pro­hi­bi­tion Pick Me Up Bitters
• Gar­nish with a grape­fruit twist

Stir all ingre­di­ents except the gar­nish with ice. Strain into chilled cock­tail glass. Gar­nish with the grape­fruit twist.