A bijou is a mixed alcoholic drink composed of gin,

vermouth Vermouth (, ) is an aromatized fortified wine, flavoured with various botanicals (roots, barks, flowers, seeds, herbs, and spices) and sometimes colored. The modern versions of the beverage were first produced in the mid- to late 18th centur ...

, and chartreuse. This cocktail was invented by Harry Johnson, "the father of professional bartending", who called it ''bijou'' because it combined the colors of three jewels: gin for diamond, vermouth for ruby, and chartreuse for emerald. An original-style bijou is made stirred with ice as Johnson's 1900 ''New and Improved Bartender Manual'' states "mix well with a spoon and serve." This recipe is also one of the oldest in the manual, dating back to the 1890s. The bijou was popular for several decades. Unlike the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and the

martini Martini may refer to: * Martini (cocktail) * Martini (vermouth), a brand of vermouth * Martini (surname), an Italian surname * Martini (automobile company), a Swiss automobile company * Automobiles Martini, a French manufacturer of racing cars * M ...

, however, the bijou disappeared after

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

. It was rediscovered by "the King of Cocktails"

Dale DeGroff Dale DeGroff (born September 21, 1948, Rhode Island), also known as ''the King of Cocktails'' or ''King Cocktail'', is an American bartender and author. The New York Times in 2015 called DeGroff "one of the world's foremost cocktail experts", and ...

in the 1980s, when he stumbled upon the recipe in Johnson's book. While the original cocktail had equal parts of the three ingredients, DeGroff tripled the ratio of gin to vermouth and chartreuse to soften the taste profile. Eventually, his recipe became the standard.

References

Cocktails with gin Cocktails with vermouth Cocktails with liqueur Spirit-forward cocktails Cocktails with chartreuse {{cocktail-stub

See also

References