Japanese Cocktail | A Classic Cocktail That’s Been Around For 160 Years

The Japanese Cocktail is a famous classic that has been around since the 1800s. The original recipe, written down in Jerry Thomas’ book How To Mix Drinks in 1862, lists cognac, orgeat, and bitters as the 3 ingredients. Later renditions have added lime juice or water but there’s a reason the original recipe has stood the test of time.

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Despite being named the Japanese Cocktail, this drink’s ingredients lean more French than anything else. Thomas, the original creator of the Japanese Cocktail, was supposedly inspired by the first Japanese delegation to the United States who were staying at a hotel near his bar in 1860.

Known as one of the original kings of cocktails, Jerry Thomas enjoyed playing with ingredients behind the bar. The Japanese Cocktail is Thomas’ riff on an Old Fashioned. The cognac* used in place of whiskey adds a fruity flavor, while the orgeat lends a nutty, fuller mouthfeel than the traditional sugar cube. Both recipes include bitters, a small but powerful ingredient that has an uncanny ability to blend flavors seamlessly. The end result is a simple yet indulgent libation.

You might be able to tell that I used homemade orgeat in this recipe because the color of my cocktail is a lot more opaque than it typically is. You definitely don’t have to make your own, though. Small Hands makes a great orgeat and thanks to Amazon, you can have it at your doorstep in a couple days. If you do want to try making it yourself, the recipe post I linked to has a from-scratch version and a cheater’s version.

Thomas originally served his Japanese Cocktail in a lowball glass with an ice cube to help his drink further resemble an Old Fashioned. These days, it’s customary to serve it “up” in a coupe glass.

If you want to know how to make a Japanese Cocktail the traditional way, you can see the original recipe down below. As I mentioned earlier, there are a few different renditions that have surfaced in recent years. You can add 1/2 ounce of chilled water to drink to dilute it a bit (since it’s pretty strong) or you can add 1/2 ounce of lime juice to the drink to brighten it up. I’ve yet to try it with lime juice or water but I plan on doing so soon since I need to use up my orgeat pretty soon. Let me know how you end up making this one.

*Quick note about cognac: I’ve discussed in another brandy cocktail post that cognac and brandy are one and the same. Similar to France’s claim on the word “chardonnay”, cognac can only be called cognac if it hails from the Cognac region of France. Otherwise, it’s brandy.

Ingredients for a Japanese Cocktail

• 2 oz cognac or brandy
• 1/2 oz orgeat (here’s an easy homemade recipe or you can buy it on Amazon)
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• lemon peel, to garnish

How To Make A Japanese Cocktail

Add all three ingredients to a cocktail shaker or cocktail glass filled with ice. Stir to incorporate the ingredients and to chill the ingredients (cocktail recipes without citrus are never shaken). Strain into a coupe glass. Express the lemon peel over the top of the glass before and placing it in the glass.

Looking for another recipe to use orgeat in? Check out the Mai Tai. The Mai Tai is perhaps the most iconic cocktail that uses orgeat as an ingredient.