A couple of weeks ago we went on a green Chartreuse kick, and did some experimenting with a variety of cocktails. One that stood out was the Bijou (“jewel” in French), which combines gin, green Chartreuse, sweet vermouth and a dash of orange bitters.
I’ll credit this Esquire article for our original inspiration, and pointing us to the original, very old recipe by Harry Johnson, first documented in the late 1800s. (Here’s a link to digital version of Harry Johnson’s 1882 New and Improved (Illustrated) Bartender’s Manual and a Guide for Hotels and Restaurants. This recipe is on page 129).
The original recipe has equal parts of the principal ingredients, but most modern versions have tweaked the ratios. A couple of days later we played with these ratios ourselves and definitely preferred ours more gin-heavy and dialed-back on the Chartreuse. The one we settled on was closer to this version from Imbibe Magazine.
Chartreuse is a lovely and complex liqueur that touts 130 different plants and flowers. In laymen’s terms, this means it will likely overpower an herbal/flowery gin. We used one of our Corpen gins that is more earthy to complement, rather that compete with, the herby flavor of the Chartreuse.
Ingredients
- 45 ml (1½ oz) Corpen gin
- 22 ml (¾ oz) green Chartreuse
- 30 ml (1 oz) sweet vermouth (white)
- 2-3 dashes orange bitters
- Lemon peel
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in an ice-filled mixing glass.
- Strain into a chilled martini glass.
- Squeeze lemon peel express the oils and discard.
- Garnish with a cherry.
- Enjoy!