The Pink Lady was popular in the 1950s. It’s pink and opaque, so on first sight you might expect it to be cloyingly sweet, but it’s actually drier than most modern cocktails. The classic recipe just uses gin, grenadine, cream and an egg white, but one of the variations is actually more tasty, so that’s what I’m going to outline here.
Like the White Lady, the Pink Lady is a little tart and a little herbal with some fruity notes. But the grenadine of the Pink Lady provides a more mellow fruitiness than the Cointreau in the White Lady.
Speaking of grenadine, it’s worth it to invest in a higher quality one, like this one from Stirrings, which has no high fructose corn syrup. Another option is to make your own. Most of the standard grenadines are just HFC and lots of flavoring, but with either of these other two options, you’ll have a syrup that’s all fruit juice and sugar. Which is at least somewhat healthier for you, but more importantly, it has a more nuanced, bold, fresh flavor.
You also want a good quality gin and it doesn’t need to be very dry since the whole cocktail is on the dry side anyway. I like Hendrick’s in this one because it has some wonderful complex notes. Bombay Sapphire also works very well.
Pink Lady Drink Recipe
- 1 1/2 ounces of gin
- 1/2 ounce applejack
- 1/2 ounce lemon juice, preferably fresh
- 1 egg white
- 1/5 ounce (or a couple of dashes) of grenadine
Combine all your ingredients in a shaker without ice. Shake it, shake it, shake it to get the egg well mixed. Now add ice and shake some more. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry. You can spear the cherry, stick it on the edge of the glass, or just drop it down in.
