🏠 » Cocktails » Swank Cocktail Guide: 80 cocktails in 80 days
The Blue Moon is cocktail number 20 on the Swank Cocktail Guide.
Blue Moon cocktail history
While the creator of the Blue Moon cocktail is unknown, a Blue Moon Cocktail recipe appeared in the Idaho Statesman in 1911.
A Blue Moon cocktail, with a slightly different recipe, was published in Hugo R. Ensslin’s 1917 Recipes for Mixed Drinks on page 9 containing gin, vermouth, orange bitters, and crème yvette. In the same book, Ensslin published a recipe for an Aviation on page 7, using gin, Maraschino, Crème de violette, and lemon juice. It is interesting in that the Swank Blue Moon recipe is a bit of a cross between the two, with gin, Maraschino, and egg white. But, back to the drink’s history…
According to Dr. David Wondrich’s article, “History Lesson: The Blue Moon Cocktail,” for Imbibe, the Blue Moon was the house cocktail for Joel’s on 41st St. in New York City. Joel’s was owned by Joel Rinaldo from 1900-1925.
Also describing, by both accounts, the ultra-fabulous Joel’s, Benjamin DeCasseres wrote in 1932:
“I have seen everybody of note that I have seen anywhere else in New York at Joe’s. It was the melting-pot of all nations and all races. It was ultra-democratic, ultra-New York, ultra cosmopolitan.”
– Benjamin DeCasseres, “Joel’s,” The American Mercury, July 1932, vol. 26, issue 103, p. 360.
Blue Moon cocktail recipe
1 jigger Dry Gin, 1/3 jigger Maraschino, 1 Egg white. Shake well with ice and strain into glass.
Ingredients used:
- Hendrick’s Gin
- Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
- Pete and Gerry’s pasteurized egg whites
Blue Moon cocktail review
Our ratings (1-5 🍸) Rating scale
Greg: 🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸
Kim: 🍸🍸🍸🍸
A tasty little cocktail! We followed the recipe exactly so ours wasn’t blue. It seems like a bit of blue food coloring as with the Blue Devil would add a bit of interest and match its name a bit better, but we both enjoyed this one.
We recognize this cocktail contains raw egg whites so, while we made this beverage with pasteurized egg whites and enjoyed this cocktail, we don’t recommend drinking anything with raw eggs, so our advice is to skip this one.
Next up… Cocktail #21, Bronx
