Sour · Anytime · Summer

Brandy Crusta

Sugar-crusted rim, a long citrus peel curled inside the glass, a brandy sour in the middle. Old-fashioned in the literal sense — this one is from the 1850s.

Base: Brandy
Glass: Coupe glass
Method: Shake
Strength: 22.25% ABV

Ingredients

52.5 mlBrandy
7.5 mlMaraschino Luxardo1 swap
A dry cherry liqueurlow
Less nutty
1 bar spoonCuracao
15 mlFresh Lemon Juice1 swap
Fresh lime juicemedium
A touch sharper
1 bar spoonSimple Syrup1 swap
Sugar syrup or agavehigh
Little change
2 dashAromatic Bitters

How to make

Technique

Shake · 10–15s

Shaking chills the drink fast while adding dilution and a light texture.

Mix together all ingredients with ice cubes in a mixing
glass and strain into a prepared slim cocktail glass.

Serve

Glass

Coupe glassAlso fine: Martini glass, Nick & Nora glass

Garnish

Rub a slice of orange (or lemon) around the rim of the glass and dip it in pulverized white sugar, so that the sugar will adhere to the edge of the glass. Carefully curling place the orange/lemon peel around the inside of the glass.The sugar rim is the garnish here — cut the peel long enough to line the whole glass.

Taste & nutrition

22.25%ABV

180kcal

1.65Drinks

StrengthMedium

Sweet to dryBalanced

Estimated from ingredient amounts and assumed ABVs — not a lab measurement.

Good to know

Use freshly squeezed juice — bottled tastes flat.

History

Year1850s

PlaceNew Orleans, USA

Created byJoseph Santini

Joseph Santini crafted the Brandy Crusta in 1850s New Orleans, distinguished by a thick sugar crust around the rim and a long spiral of lemon peel. Brandy, maraschino, curaçao, bitters and lemon make up the drink itself. It appears in Jerry Thomas's landmark 1862 bar guide and is widely seen as an ancestor of the Sidecar and Margarita. Few drinks can claim such an influential lineage.

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