Sour · Anytime · Summer

White Lady

Gin, triple sec and lemon shaken hard and served up. Dry, citrus-forward and very clean.

Base: Gin
Glass: Coupe glass
Method: Shake
Strength: 40% ABV

Ingredients

40 mlGin1 swap
Any London dry ginhigh
Depends on the brand’s botanicals
30 mlTriple Sec1 swap
Cointreauhigh
Similar, a little drier
20 mlFresh Lemon Juice1 swap
Fresh lime juicemedium
A touch sharper

How to make

Technique

Shake · 10–15s

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

Pour all ingredients into cocktail shaker, shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Serve

Glass

Coupe glassAlso fine: Martini glass, Nick & Nora glass

Garnish

None

Taste & nutrition

40%ABV

197kcal

3.53Drinks

StrengthSpirit-forward

Sweet to dryDry

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

Good to know

Use freshly squeezed juice — bottled tastes flat.

History

Year1920s

PlaceLondon / Paris

Created byHarry MacElhone

The White Lady as we know it — gin, triple sec and lemon — took shape in late-1920s London and was popularised by Harry Craddock at the Savoy. Harry MacElhone made an earlier, very different crème de menthe version in 1919 before the gin recipe won out. Crisp and citrusy, it is essentially a gin Sidecar. It is an elegant, enduring pre-war classic.

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