The Bijou was among perhaps the first cocktails created. Showing up around 1900, this cocktail was originally made by Harry Johnson. The original drink was served with ice, but later evolved to be served up. Like many pre-prohibition era cocktails, this drink owes it’s revival to Dale Degroff, who rediscovered and popularized it.
Bijou
The Bijou is complex, herbal, slightly sweet, and layered in it’s complexity. The herbs of the gin and Green Chartreuse really line up here, giving a big boost to one another with a slightly anise and juniper dominance. There are layers of herbs though, and the caramelized note of the sweet vermouth come in with a nice touch of spice. The bitters give a citrus lift, and the finish lingers with a nice amount of spice and herbs. For all these reasons, this is one of my favorite prohibition era cocktails.
Drink Notes & Recommendations
Most of the variation in the Bijou is derived from the choice of gin and vermouth. Our recommendations are as follows:
- Gin – There’s a lot of spice and sweet going on here thanks to the large quantity of Green Chartreuse. For those reason, we recommend making this one with a London Dry to emphasize those herbal elements and help balance things out. We used Tanqueray here (which was fantastic), but any London Dry should do (such as our standard Beefeater or another like Bombay Sapphire)
- Green Chartreuse – There really isn’t a substitute for this classic several hundred year old liqueur, so you’ll need to procure a bottle. Be prepared to pay upwards of $50 a bottle for a 750 ml, but be aware most cocktails call for less than an ounce.
- Sweet Vermouth – We utilized the more vanilla forward Carpano Antica here (which is our go to) and the strong flavors at work here can tolerate it. Feel free to use your favorite here if you don’t have Carpano..
- Orange Bitters – For complexity, I really like complex spice and orange notes Regan’s Orange Bitters* here, but both Angostura Orange* and Fee Brothers* should work fine.
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