069 – London Fog

A 2021 re-discovery of the pre-1946 ‘London Fog’ cocktail with a 2021 twist.

A continuing journey through the cocktail’s of the past. This time, the ‘London Fog’, with some extended flavour range – sweet and sour – for a more contemporary palette.

Make your own ‘mix-at-home’ cocktail the ‘London Fog’, with Sydney 2021 additions.

METHOD – Add 45ml Gin (London Dry), 15ml Pernod, 15ml fresh lime juice and 10ml simple syrup (2-parts sugar to 1-part water) into a cocktail shaker with a small handful of shaved or crushed ice. Shake until very cold (15-20 seconds) and strain into a small rocks glass or tumbler filled with crushed ice.

HISTORICAL NOTES – The earliest print appearance of the ‘London Fog’ cocktail is in Lucius Morris Beebe’s 1946, ‘The Stork Club Bar Book’, under the ‘Morning’ drink section on page 23, effectively as a potent hangover cure.

The Stork Club in Manhattan (operating from 1929 until 1965) really should have pages of its own incredible history. It counted the world’s rich and famous as it’s clientele, as illustration of its legendary history, the owner of the Hope Diamond once lost the gem under table during a wild evening at the club, and cocktail history legend, Ernest Hemingway, was able to cash his $100,000 check for the film rights of For Whom the Bell Tolls at the Stork Club bar, to settle his extravagant bill.

Neither Beebe nor the Stork Club claim the invention, crediting actor Oliver Burgess Meredith (1907–1997) with at least bringing the cocktail to their attention. The description above the recipe, in Beebe’s book, is a wonderful and illustrative introduction.

Burgess Meredith is perhaps best remembered by people of my generation as the brilliant actor portraying ‘The Penguin’ in 21 episodes of the original Batman TV series between 1966 and 1968. However with more than 300 film and TV appearances, this understates his six-decades of acting, named one of the most accomplished actors of the 20th Century.

Whether Burgess Meredith ‘invented’ the cocktail, or just brought it to Lucius Beebe’s attention is unclear. What is certain, is that other claims of later invention are either false or for very different cocktails under a name that was already taken, established and published. Some really awful cocktails have been created that also carry the ‘London Fog’ name.

Although the cocktail pre-dates 1946 and may be a World War Two or even earlier vintage, with Burgess Meredith serving from 1942 to 1945, making training and education films for the U.S. Office for War Information. I have included this cocktail in the 1951 to 1960 period, in recognition of the worst ‘London Fog’ of them all, the Great Fog of 1952.

For five days, from 5 December to 9 December 1952, a temperature inversion, anti-cyclone (still air) and combination of coal smoke with other pollution created the worst London Fog (Smog) in history, killing at least 4,000 people, and making over 100,000 Londoners ill. Modern day estimates believe that as many of 12,000 people may have died from the overall effects of those 5-days. It resulted in significant changes, including the Clean Air Act of 1956.

THE OFFICIAL MIX – There is no official ‘London Fog’ cocktail in any of the International Bartender Association (IBA) lists. The closest is the original recipe from The Stork Club Bar Book of 1946, included above, a simple mix of 45ml Gin with 7.5ml Pernod.

TASTING NOTES – The petite (60ml or so with dilution) cocktail, or alcohol-laden hangover remedy, is very strong with the flavour of Pernod, aniseed and licorice flavour in a very cold frappè style.

LOCKTAIL CHANGES – There is a proliferation of other ‘London Fog’ recipes. Brooke, who I mentioned in the video, has a ‘Friday Night Fog’ that includes 60ml Vodka, 30ml Cointreau (although I used Grand Marnier), 30ml lime cordial (which you can make easily with 20ml lime juice and 10ml simple syrup, or a more ‘fancy’ version which is included with the Gimlet recipe), shaken with ice. I have decided to combine elements of both, keeping this in its original Gin and Pernod cocktail form, but adding the lime juice and simple syrup.

The result from everyone who has tried this version so far is a broader flavour range (added sweet and sour) and better overall balance with a drop in the strength of the Pernod, which can be overwhelming. The result is a very enjoyable cocktail. Brooke’s is pretty bloody good too!

YOUR LOCKTAIL EXPERIENCE – If you’d rather taste than read, I am progressively building an ingredient list and other sourcing information on this site. I will re-use ingredients where I can (good for my budget too), so that the cost goes down overtime if you are ‘playing at home’.

Let me know what you think.

Cocktails you’d like reinvented.

Recipes you’ve tried and your ‘score’.

This is ninth cocktail from the 1951-1960 bracket of ‘Locktail’ remixes. Full list in the index.