The Bijou Cocktail , with gin, green Chartreuse, and Italian vermouth, is the one of the many drinks associated with master bartender Harry Johnson most often encountered in the modern age. The drink appears to have been Johnson’s adaptation of a cocktail that was first recorded in St. Louis and Cincinnati in the spring of 1895. The original version was nothing more than a mixture of the then-new Grand Marnier with cognac (the St. Louis version) or in equal portion with Plymouth gin and Italian vermouth (the Cincinnati one). Johnson’s take on the drink, which appeared in the 1900 edition of his Bartender’s Manual, replaces the Grand Marnier in the Cincinnati version with green Chartreuse, thus turning a rich and pleasant drink into a spicy and invigorating one.
For the next three or four decades, Johnson’s Bijou would battle it out in the pages of American and European drink books with variations on the Cincinnati version until the fashion for drier, less complex-tasting cocktails doomed them both to obscurity. In the 2000s, Johnson’s version, at least, was woken from hibernation by history-minded bartenders and pressed back into service, its bold intensity and use of trendy ingredients—gin, Chartreuse—making it a good companion for other once-forgotten drinks such as the Aviation and the Last Word. See Aviation Cocktail and Last Word.
Recipe: Stir 30 ml ea. Plymouth gin, Italian vermouth, and green Chartreuse and 2 dashes orange bitters with ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass and twist lemon peel over the top.
See also Grand Marnier and Johnson, Harry.
“Drinks That Keep You Cool.” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 12, 1895, 28.
Johnson, Harry. Harry Johnson’s New and Improved Bartenders’ Manual. New York: Harry Johnson, 1900.
Lawlor, Chris. The Mixicologist. Rev. ed. Cincinnati: Lawlor, 1895.
“Summer Drinks That Promise to Be the Rage.” St. Louis Republic, May 5, 1895, part 2, 16.
By: David Wondrich