The Pink Duke is in honour of the myriad characters who have raised more than a few glasses under the roof of Lansdowne House – which included dukes, many of whom may well have ended their nights with faces flushed pink from the alcohol!
As well as being a power player in Georgian society, with many major political decisions made at the site, Lansdowne House has also long been associated as being the place to go for parties, from the days when it was the private home of the Lansdowne family and later lived in by Harry Gordon Selfridge, right up to the modern era and the renowned parties and balls still thrown at The Lansdowne Club to this day.
Of course, the ingredients themselves hold a special significance too. When William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 2nd Earl of Shelbourne, who would later become the 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, bought the property in 1765, London was coming to the end of the notorious Gin Craze. Predominantly affecting the lower classes, who were unused to drinking anything stronger than beer, the Gin Craze resulted in numerous Acts of Parliament trying to control its sale and consumption, and led to gin being known as “Mother’s Ruin.”
Meanwhile, at the other end of society, raspberries were often used as decoration on the tables of the wealthy as a symbol of opulence, and it is likely that Lansdowne House would have been no different in the regard.
Pink Duke
Equipment
Ingredients
- 35 ml Hendrick's Gin
- 25 ml Kwai Feh Lychee liqueur
- 25 ml fresh lime juice
- 25 ml raspberry and rose cordial
- Prosecco
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a shaker, except the prosecco
- Add ice and then shake until chilled
- Fine strain into a coupe glass
- Top up with Prosecco
- Garnish with an edible rose bud