Greyhound Cocktail Recipe

Tart and refreshing, the Greyhound is a straightforward, two-ingredient basic made with grapefruit juice and a selection of vodka or gin.

The drink probably got here along with the emergence of grapefruit juice as a mixer within the early twentieth century. Harry Craddock’s The Savoy Cocktail E book, printed in 1930, is typically cited as the primary printed point out of the cocktail. The recipe is a variation of the Grapefruit Cocktail, a concoction featured within the e-book, combining gin, contemporary lemon juice, and grapefruit jelly, and is way nearer to the one we all know immediately.

“The next cocktail, though apparently innocent, is usually liable to be snappy,” writes Craddock within the e-book. “It’s a variation of the Grapefruit Cocktail: Take three and a half glasses of gin and the juice of 1½ good-sized grapefruit. Sugar to style, loads of ice. Shake and serve.”

The drink adopted the “Greyhound” moniker within the late Thirties when it was featured on the menu throughout the nation at Greyhound bus terminals’ company-run restaurant chain referred to as The Submit Home, as their signature cocktail. The snappy drink’s recognition grew from there. 

Across the Nineteen Fifties, vodka grew to become the popular spirit used within the Greyhound. Up till then, gin was predominantly used.

Why the Greyhound works

Two-ingredient cocktails are a favourite of bartenders and residential mixologists alike for his or her fast and simple building and cost-effectiveness. They may also be surprisingly complicated, relying on the components used. 

Due to its simplicity, the important thing to a wonderful Greyhound is high quality components. Whether or not it’s vodka or gin, the bottom spirit ought to be well-made. Gin will lend extra complicated botanical notes and improve the citrus qualities within the juice, whereas vodka packs an alcohol punch with out contributing very a lot taste.

The grapefruit part does a variety of the heavy lifting on this drink, and the juice ought to be freshly squeezed. The ratio of spirit to juice might be made to style.