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Floradora Cocktail Recipe – An Early 1900s Drink For The Spring

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The Floradora sounds funny, but it has a really nice raspberry touch and a light pink look that just scream spring time to me. This is actually one of the older cocktails, dating back to the early 1900s. 

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floradora

What is Floradora ?

Floradora is a refreshing highball, mainly comprised of gin and ginger beer. It also features lime and raspberry, so overall it’s a very fresh, bright, bubbly highball. But its history goes far, far back and it’s actually a really nice story. 

Back in 1899 a musical comedy hit theaters in London, called “Florodora“. It featured six very beautiful women, all clad in pink, singing and cting out their scenes. The appeal of the Florodora show was so great it ran for 445 shows in London, 552 shows in New York, and another long but unspecified run in Australia. This was all in the early 1900s, and the show was still popular in Britain up until the 1950s. 

So, a drink was made to honor the Florodora girls. It was themed pink, after their dresses, and sweet for most of the patrons ordering it were women. And finally, it used gin as gin was one of the key spirits at the time. 

Floradora does take inspiration from the Foghorn (gin and ginger beer) and Tom Collins (gin and club soda), but it’s different enough to be its own drink. 

floradora 2

Floradora Cocktail Recipe

Ioana Ciuraru
A refreshing gin and ginger beer highball, with raspberry
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Servings 1

Ingredients
  

  • 2 oz gin
  • 1 oz lime juice
  • 0.5 raspberry syrup
  • ginger beer to top

Instructions
 

  • In a shaker combine gin, lime juice, raspberry syrup, ice. Shake well.
  • Strain into ice-filled Collins glass or highball.
  • Top with ginger beer.

Notes

This is a highball, but you can add as little or as much ginger beer as you like. I've usually seen it quite long, so over 2 oz of ginger beer.

When is this drink best ?

I think Floradora works very well as a warm season cocktail but especially as a spring drink. The pinkish color and the ginger beer make it light and fun and airy, in a way that reminds me of flowers more than of fruit. Of course you can still have this in the heat of summer; it’s tall enough to quench your thirst, but bubbly and sweet enough to put you in a good mood. 

My thoughts on Floradora

I liked the Floradora, though I have to say I’m not used to ginger beer and I’m always surprised by its mild spiciness. The raspberry is subtle in this, but it’s enough to be a bit sweet and give a hint of flavor. And it turns out raspberry and gin are a really good pair, I have to say. 

I used lime juice in this, as the recipe calls, but I think lime juice would’ve worked a little better. Lie juice is a great ingredient but I feel it overshadows the raspberry a bit. Still a very beautiful and delicious drink overall.

floradora making

If you like Floradora, you might also like…

Raspberry gin and tonic – a gin and tonic with raspberry syrup

Foghorn – very similar to Floradora, minus the raspberry

Strawberry Lime Rickey – a gin rickey with strawberry syrup

Raspberry Lime Rickey – a gin rickey with raspberry

Notes, substitutes, and tips

The recipe calls for 0.5 oz raspberry syrup, and it come out just fine. But if you want it a bit more flavorful you can bump it up to 0.75 oz. The raspberry syrup and ginger beer are the only things providing sweetness in this cocktail. 


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