Brandy Crusta Cocktail Recipe
Brandy, curaçao and lemon in a sugar-rimmed glass lined with a single long spiral of lemon peel.
- Category: The Unforgettables
- Glass: Wine glass
- ABV: 26%
- Difficulty: Hard
- Prep time: ~5 min
Ingredients
- Brandy52 ml (1.8 oz)
- Orange curaçao7 ml (0.2 oz)
- Fresh lemon juice7 ml (0.2 oz)
- Simple syrup5 ml (0.2 oz)
- Angostura bitters1 dash
How to Make It
- Rim a small wine glass with sugar and line the inside with a long lemon peel spiral.
- Shake all ingredients with ice.
- Strain into the prepared glass.
- Serve without ice.
Garnish
Sugar rim and a lemon peel spiral
What it tastes like
The citrus acidity leads and it smells of lemon and lime peel.
The technique
Shaking. Anything with juice, syrup, egg white or cream gets shaken: the shaker chills the drink and adds roughly 20% water, and that water is what takes the edge off. Twelve to fifteen seconds, until the tin frosts over. Under-shaking leaves the drink harsh because it never got enough dilution.
Glass and ice
A stemmed wine glass. The big bowl leaves room for ice and fruit, and gives the aroma somewhere to gather.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Brandy
- The general name for fruit-distilled spirits; in cocktails it usually means grape brandy. It stands in for cognac, and cognac stands in for it.
- Orange curaçao
- A liqueur made from the bitter orange of Curaçao; usually brandy-based, which makes it darker and rounder than Cointreau.
- Fresh lemon juice
- Freshly squeezed lemon; one lemon gives 30-40 ml. It can swap with lime, but lemon is softer and less aromatic, so use a touch more.
- Simple syrup
- One part sugar to one part water, stirred until it dissolves — no need to boil it. Keeps a month in the fridge. No syrup? Use the same amount of honey, loosened with a little water.
- Angostura bitters
- The salt of the cocktail world. Measured in dashes, not millilitres: a few of them cut the sweetness and add spice. One bottle lasts years.
The Story
Created by Joseph Santini in 1850s New Orleans. The peel lining and sugar rim make it the ancestor of the Sidecar and every crusted-rim drink after it.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Brandy Crusta mixed?
- It is shaken and served in a wine glass.
- How strong is a Brandy Crusta?
- Roughly 26% ABV as served — a spirit-strength drink — sipped slowly, and it wants a glass of water beside it.
- Can a Brandy Crusta be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Brandy Crusta hard to make?
- Hard. Either something has to be prepared in advance or a step needs timing; halving the measures on the first attempt is sensible.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.