A Harry’s Bar classic cocktail named for a chimpanzee's testicles
In a time before Viagra, Dr. Serge Voronoff, a French surgeon of Russian decent, was well-known for his technique of implanting a chimpanzee’s testicle tissue onto men’s scrotums for “therapeutic” purposes. This technique, Voronoff believed, was critical to male longevity and increased sexual stamina in later life.
While his work with monkey gland tissue ultimately proved to be a hoax, it nevertheless made him a very wealthy man by capturing the attention of enough wealthy older gentlemen looking for their lost youth.
It was during this time that bartender extraordinaire Harry MacElhone, of Harry’s Bar in Paris fame, saw an opportunity to cash in on Dr. Voronoff’s notoriety and created the Monkey Gland cocktail.
While the ingredients for the Monkey Gland may seem puzzling at first glance, they conspire to create a multifaceted and refreshing cocktail. As Anne Alexander wrote in Saveur, “A first sip revealed the drink to be floral, herbal, bright, acidic, and refreshing; it’s a supremely enjoyable cocktail.”
{Monkey Gland}
Ingredients
1.5 oz. Dry Gin
1 dash Absinthe
1 tsp Grenadine
1.5 oz Freshly squeezed orange Juice (It makes all the difference in the world.)
Prep
Coat the chilled glass with a dash or two of Absinthe, pouring out any extra.
Combine the rest of the ingredients in the shaker and add ice.
Vigorously shake till the shaker is ice cold and frosted.
Strain into a coupe or Martini glass.
Garnish with an orange peel.
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