Highball · Party · Summer

Suffering Bastard

Cognac and gin with lime and bitters, ginger beer poured on top. Mixed in Cairo as a hangover cure, and still good at it.

Base: Cognac
Glass: Highball glass
Method: Build
Strength: 9.54% ABV

Ingredients

30 mlCognac1 swap
Brandy or Armagnachigh
Similar; Armagnac is bolder
30 mlGin1 swap
Any London dry ginhigh
Depends on the brand’s botanicals
15 mlFresh Lime Juice1 swap
Fresh lemon juicemedium
Slightly less floral, more tart
2 dashAngostura Bitters
top upGinger Beer

How to make

Technique

Build · 10–15s

Building straight in the glass keeps it simple and preserves any fizz.

Pour all ingredients into cocktail shaker except the ginger beer, shake well with ice.
Pour unstrained into a Collins glass or in the original.
S.
Bastard mug and top up with ginger beer.

Serve

Glass

Highball glassAlso fine: Collins glass, Tall tumbler

Garnish

Garnish with mint spring and optionally an orange slice as well.Slap the mint first, then stand it by the straw.

optional

Taste & nutrition

9.54%ABV

199kcal

0.63Drinks

StrengthLight

Sweet to dryBalanced

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

Good to know

Use freshly squeezed juice — bottled tastes flat.
Add the fizzy mixer last so it keeps its bubbles.

History

Year1942

PlaceCairo, Egypt

Created byJoe Scialom (Shepheard’s Hotel)

Joe Scialom created the Suffering Bastard in 1942 at Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo, reputedly as a hangover cure for weary Allied troops. Gin and brandy meet lime, bitters and ginger ale in a restorative long drink. Its blunt name captured the mood of wartime Egypt. It later became a tiki-bar favourite far from its desert origins.

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