COCKTAIL RECIPE
Monkey Gland
Monkey Gland is a classic cocktail that combines the fresh citrus character of gin and orange juice with the slightly sweet touch of grenadine. A few drops of absinthe give the drink a slightly herbal depth. It is as memorable in the cocktail world for its interesting story as for its name.
The Monkey Gland cocktail originated in the 1920s at the famous Harry's New York Bar in Paris. It is thought to have been created by Harry MacElhone, a famous bartender of the time. The name of the cocktail comes from a strange medical experiment that was very popular at the time. Serge Voronoff, a Russian-French surgeon, advocated transplanting tissue from monkey glands into humans for rejuvenation, an idea that caused a sensation in Europe.
In the wild years of Paris, full of jazz, art and nightlife, this strange scientific trend was on everyone's lips. Harry MacElhone named his newly created cocktail "Monkey Gland" as a humorous reference to this interesting fashion of the time. Thus, the cocktail became the topic of bar conversations with both its flavor and its name.