Green Eyes Recipe
A gin and lime sour laced with Green Chartreuse and smoothed by egg white — sharp, intensely herbal and silky.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Old fashioned glass
- ABV: 19%
- Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients
- Gin45 ml (1.5 oz)
- Fresh lime juice22 ml (0.7 oz)
- Green Chartreuse22 ml (0.7 oz)
- Simple syrup15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Egg white15 ml (0.5 oz)
How to Make It
- Add all ingredients to a shaker without ice and dry-shake to build the foam.
- Add ice and shake again until well chilled.
- Strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass.
- Garnish with a cherry and a slice of lime.
Garnish
Cherry and a lime slice
What it tastes like
The citrus acidity leads, it has a green, botanical backdrop and it wears a foam cap.
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 heavy-bottomed, wide old fashioned glass. Wide enough for one large cube, which is the point: a big cube has less surface area, so the drink gets cold without getting watery.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Gin
- London dry gin: juniper up front, citrus and coriander behind it. Brand really does show here — Beefeater is sharp, Hendrick's floral, Tanqueray juniper-heavy.
- Fresh lime juice
- Freshly squeezed lime. Bottled lime tastes cooked and flat; one lime gives about 30 ml. If you have none, half lemon and half grapefruit juice comes closest.
- Green Chartreuse
- The 55% liqueur French monks make from 130 plants. Nothing really tastes like it and nothing really replaces it; yellow Chartreuse is sweeter and 40%.
- 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.
- Egg white
- Egg white adds texture, not flavour. Shake it first without ice (a dry shake), then again with ice. The vegan swap is chickpea water, in the same quantity.
The Story
A modern sour from the same gin, lime and Green Chartreuse territory as the Last Word, with egg white in place of maraschino's sweetness.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Green Eyes mixed?
- It is shaken and served in an old fashioned glass.
- How strong is a Green Eyes?
- Roughly 19% ABV as served — in fortified-wine territory — plan it as a single drink.
- Can a Green Eyes 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 Green Eyes hard to make?
- Moderate. A shaker or mixing glass plus a strainer covers it.
759 recipes in your pocket
Cocktails and mocktails from 55 countries — ingredients, steps and the story behind each drink. Works offline too.
Similar recipes
Collections
Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.