Pink Lady Cocktail Recipe

The Pink Lady is a gin-based, classic cocktail featuring applejack, fresh lemon juice, grenadine, and egg white to create a silky texture.

It’s unclear when this pre-Prohibition cocktail was first created or who initially brought it to life, but a few of variations with the Pink Lady moniker floated around the early 20th century, with little relation to the recipe we know today. 

Some attribute the cocktail’s origins to Elsie de Wolfe, a pioneering designer, actress and socialite, considered to be one of the first interior decorators in the U.S. When entertaining celebrities and aristocrats, de Wolfe is said to have served a Pink Lady cocktail made up of gin, Cointreau, and pink grapefruit juice.

Some modern drink historians credit a popular Broadway musical, which opened in 1911, called The Pink Lady, for inspiring the cocktail’s name. Served at the play’s opening night and made with a mix of anise liqueur and bitters, the drink was supposedly created for the musical’s lead actress Hazel Dawn, who adopted the Pink Lady nickname and maintained it throughout her acting career. 

The first printed recipe, and the closest version to what we know today, was referenced in the 1913 drinks compilation, Straub’s Manual of Mixed Drinks, written by Jacques Straub.

 Why does the Pink Lady Work?

The Pink Lady is essentially a gin sour, following the classic sour format, which calls for two parts spirit, one part sweet, and one part sour. 

The earliest printed recipe includes both gin and applejack, called for in equal parts, along with lime juice, and dashes of grenadine, but no reference to egg white. Later recipes, such as the one featured in Harry Craddock’s The Savoy Cocktail Book, published in 1930, omitted applejack — difficult to source in the U.K. at the time — and any citrus, but included an egg white. 

The recipe featured here balances London Dry gin and crisp apple brandy with bright, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and sweetly tart grenadine. The egg white addition is essential to soften the drink’s flavors while adding a silky consistency and a luxurious foamy top. 

As with all cocktail recipes, the ratios can be altered to taste. Upping the grenadine will yield a slightly sweeter drink, while omitting the applejack will result in less complexity. Be sure to vigorously shake all the ingredients without ice first (dry shake) to fully integrate the egg white and create the perfect layer of froth.