Meet the Daisy Cocktail Family

Daisy Cocktail


Make a cocktail, or 50 with this recipe.

Brandy Daisy Cocktail
Brandy Daisy as it might have looked if Jerry Thomas made it,

The Daisy cocktail. Get out your cocktail shaker. It’s time to really get to know an incredibly versatile type of cocktail. The Daisy is one branch of the sour cocktail family tree. Knowing this recipe will help you remember dozens of other popular cocktails.

When you learn about different cocktail families, or cocktail categories, you develop a base for experimenting and developing your own recipes. Once you know this family formula, you can create delicious drinks according to the category you have selected.

Daisy Cocktail History

Like a number of other cocktail recipes the Daisy has become a shadow of its former self. Modern versions are often sweetened with grenadine and topped with soda. That can be tasty, but they often come across like an overly sweet and boozy Shirley Temple.

So, the Daisy is old. Like, really old. It dates back to the mid-1800s. Over time it has been changed and adapted often enough that it can be tricky to really define what it is.

Some people will define it as a sour drink sweetened with grenadine and topped with soda. But, that’s clearly not the case if you go back to Jerry Thomas and the Bon Vivant’s Companion. Our research has led us to a loose definition. This is a drink that can go a lot of directions

The oldest recipe we’ve got for a Brandy Daisy is from “Professor” Jerry Thomas. His rendition dates to 1862 and is far more alluring, calling as it does for curaçao (instead of the usually insipid grenadine) and accenting the whole with a couple dashes of fragrant Jamaican rum (brandy’s closest friend in the spirit world). Those with a mixological bent will notice that, by the simple omission of rum and fizz, you’ve got what is essentially a Sidecar on ice. Yummy.

David Wondrich

When you know how to make a Daisy you know how to make dozens of other cocktails

The Gin Daisy is having a moment. After 120 years it has finally made it into the Oxford English Dictionary. The first citation the OED quotes is from 1887. 130 years later it is now officially recognized as a classic cocktail.

  • If you’ve been following our series on classic cocktails you know it’s one of the seven fundamental classic cocktail recipes. It is one branch of the sour family tree.If
  • The Daisy is one of my favorites in this group. It is a sour cocktail modified by a liqueur. That means you will start with two parts spirit, one part sweet, and one part sour.
  • The difference here is that the spirit is divided between a base spirit and a liqueur. The ratio is 3:1 spirit to liqueur. In most cases that is 1 ½ ounces of your base spirit and ½ ounce of liqueur.
  • The amount of sugar or syrup you add will vary depending on the sweetness of the liqueur you’re adding. Usually an orange liqueur (Harry Johnson preferred green chartreuse)

Classic cocktail recipes that will make you a better bartender:

If you’ve already got the first four of the classic cocktail recipes nailed it’s pretty simple to move into the sour variations. There are three broad variations on the sour that are established enough to be considered classics in their own right. The Daisy, the Collins and the French 75.

Common Variations of the Daisy Cocktail

The daisy cocktail is a delightful mix of spirit, liqueur, lemon juice or lime juice, sugar, and egg white. Make a few simple ingredient changes and you can create an equally delightful drink.

To start, there are Daisy recipes for all the base spirits. The choice of liqueurs is equally varied. Orange liqueurs, Yellow Chartreuse, Maraschino and Benédictine, among other liqueurs are all used in this recipe. The sugar can also be replaced with honey or simple syrup to add flavour to a daisy cocktail.

Cocktail families are the mother sauces of cocktail recipes. This one happens to be particularly versatile. You can see this in the popularity of some of its most common variations.

  • Margarita is the most popular variation
  • Cosmopolitan and sidecar
  • Margarita is the most popular variation. Tequila, triple sec, lime juice and simple syrup make up one of the world’s most popular cocktail.
  • Cosmopolitan is another variation. It is made with vodka, triple sec, fresh squeezed lime juice and cranberry juice.
  • The Hemingway Daiquiri takes the Daiquiri from sour to daisy cocktail territory with the addition of maraschino liqueur.
  • Sidecar is the classic variation of the Daisy Cocktail. The most common recipe will replace simple syrup for an equal part of lemon or orange juice.

Classic Daisy Cocktails

Brandy Daisy Cocktail
Brandy Daisy

Brandy Daisy

A brandy daisy is made with Cognac, Yellow Chartreuse, simple syrup and a dash of lemon juice is added.

Cognac is such a nuanced and expressive spirit to begin with. In a more restrained setting with Chartreuse’s herbal complexity and the sweet and sour backbone.

Gin Daisy
Gin Daisy

Gin Daisy

A typical strawberry gin daisy contains gin, grenadine, lemon juice, and soda water. It can also include strawberries or other fruits. The ingredients are poured into a highball glass over crushed ice.

Daisy de Santiage
Daisy de Santiago

Daisy de Santiago

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Sidecar Cockail
Sidecar Cocktail

Sidecar

The Sidecar is a classic cocktail, typically made with Cognac or Brandy, Cointreau or Triple Sec, lemon juice and sugar syrup. It is typically strained and served up in a cocktail glass.


Basic Daisy Recipe

This is the basic recipe for a Daisy. You can use any combination of base spirit and liqueur that makes sense. The sweet and sour component is the same as it is in any sour cocktail. You can add a splash of soda, or lengthen it with soda if you like, but that is optional. Finally, one of the hallmarks of many drinks in this style is an extravagant fruit garnish on top.

  • 1 1/2 oz Spirit
  • 1/2 oz Liqueur
  • 3/4 oz lemon or lime juice
  • 1/4 oz simple syrup
  • fruit for garnish
  • soda (optional)
  1. Pour all your ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

  2. Shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds.

  3. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Cocktails

The Spirit

The great thing about the daisy format is that it works with any base spirit. When people think about a daisy they think about a gin daisy. The Margarita is the most popular drink in North America and it is also a daisy. A Cosmopolitan is simply a vodka daisy. Only you lengthen it with cranberry juice.

The Sweet

When you are developing daisy cocktail recipes start with the 2:1:1 ratio of the sour. Keep in mind, you are modifying the base spirit with a liqueur. Liqueurs have added sugar and varying levels of alcohol. That means you may have to adjust the amount of sugar you add to your drink to get the right balance.

It is probably safe to assume that if you are working off a recipe that the person who put the recipe together has tested it. If you are developing your own recipe, or making a variation on an existing recipe you will want to test it a little to make sure it isn’t too sweet or too sour.

Like all cocktails in the sour family, the sweet component offers a great opportunity to change things up.

The Sour

The sour component is lemon or lime juice. Citrus juice is the simplest way to get the acidity you need for the proper sugar and acid balance that is so important in a sour cocktail. This is the reason they are the main components in drinks like the Margarita or the Daiquiri.

Not all citrus juice is created equal. Lime juice and lemon juice both have similar PH levels between 2.0 and 2.6. Orange juice or grapefruit juice both have PH levels starting around 3.0. Because the PH scale is logarithmic this means they are 10 times less acidic than lemons.

If you want to include orange or grapefruit flavour you will have to find some way to adjust the sweet and sour balance. Either by adding acid or reducing sugar.

You could experiment with citric, malic or tartaric acid. Be aware that substituting different acids changes the pH level. Most acids will have a higher pH than lemon or lime. Because acid balances sugar you will want to use less sugar as your drink becomes less acidic.

The Method

A classic daisy cocktail is incorporating liquids of different densities. That means it is typically a shaken drink. Throw everything in a cocktail shaker and shake it vigorously for 10 – 15 seconds. Strain and serve.

That being said, there are a lot of different variations on a Daisy. So, each one might have its own particular quirks.

The Ice

The classic daisy cocktail is usually served over cubed ice. It’s a refreshing summer drink. Best served very cold. But, again, this is a drink where a lot of elements are optional. You serve a brandy daisy up in a coupe or a martini glass. Make a Hemingway Daiquiri blended or poured over crushed ice.

Really, ice in all its forms is going to show up in this cocktail. Figure out where you’re starting and go from there. If it’s a drink typically served up, serve it up unless you have a reason not to. Then switch it up.

The Glass

Again with the options. For glassware you should choose whatever works best. Again with the options. For the third, for those in the back. For glassware you should choose whatever works best for the drink you are making. Cocktail glass. Collins glass. Martini glass. Heck, it’s not a julep, but if you like a pretty silver cup go ahead and make your Daisy in a julep cup.

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