All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French

The Peking Cocktail of the 1930s? The Gloomchaser

Posted: January 23rd, 2017 | No Comments »

I was rereading Harold Acton’s Peonies and Ponies last week and he notes that the cocktail everyone was drinking in the late 1930s in Peking was the Gloomchaser – Japanese incursions, war threats, dust storms, depleted numbers in the foreign colony, and then the horse racing at Paomachang got cancelled – who wouldn’t need a Gloomchaser? So here you go – a generous measure of Grand Marnier, the same of Triple Sec, slightly less of lemon juice, a dash or two of grenadine and some ice – shake and serve…it was all the rage in Peking in 1937….

Acton in Peking



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