Banana Calling
A Banana Calling is 40ml of London Dry gin, 10ml of banana liqueur, 7.5ml of fino sherry, 20ml of fresh lemon juice and 7.5ml of rich sugar syrup, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled Nick & Nora glass, with a dried banana chip pegged to the rim. About 1.9 UK units. Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, says Cameron Attfield created the recipe it adapts at Dandelyan in London in August 2018, as a riff on Chris Jepson’s London Calling of 2002. Our measures follow Difford’s Guide’s adaptation of Attfield’s recipe. The London Calling is gin, fino, lemon, syrup and orange bitters; the Banana Calling halves the fino, adds the banana, raises the lemon and drops the bitters. The banana is meant to be hard to find. At 10ml it rounds out the middle of the sour, and the fino’s dry, salty edge keeps it from turning sweet. Most people taste a fuller gin sour and only find the fruit once the name points to it.
Glassware: Nick & Nora Glass
Garnish: Dried banana chip pegged to the rim, or a fresh banana slice
Ingredients
40ml
A London Dry at 40% ABV, as in the London Calling. Clear juniper keeps the drink a gin sour under the fruit and the sherry.
10ml
One made from real fruit; Difford’s names Giffard Banane du Brésil and gives it 25% ABV. At 10ml it rounds the drink rather than flavouring it.
7.5ml
Dry, salty and pale, at 15% ABV on Lustau’s page for its Fino del Puerto. Half the London Calling’s measure. In our experience, keep the bottle cold and finish it within a week. Sherry contains sulphites.
20ml
Squeezed the same day. More than the London Calling’s 15ml, to answer the sugar in the banana liqueur.
7.5ml
Two parts sugar dissolved in one part water. 10ml of ordinary one-to-one syrup gives about the same sweetness.
Instructions
Chill a Nick & Nora glass and squeeze the lemon juice the same day.
Add the gin, banana liqueur, fino sherry, lemon juice and rich sugar syrup to a shaker.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled glass.
Peg a dried banana chip to the rim, or rest a fresh banana slice on it.
Source: Difford's Guide (Difford’s Guide’s adaptation of Cameron Attfield’s August 2018 recipe from Dandelyan, London). Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Choose a banana liqueur made from real fruit. Difford’s names Giffard Banane du Brésil. Cheaper bottles lean on a single sweet banana aroma, and at 10ml they add sugar and little else. Fino is wine. In our experience it fades within a week once open, even in the fridge, and a tired bottle tastes flat and nutty instead of dry and salty. Buy half bottles. Rich syrup is two parts sugar to one of water. If you only have ordinary one-to-one syrup, 10ml gives about the same sweetness.
Behind the Banana Calling
Flavour Profile
Dandelyan, 2018
Difford’s Guide says Cameron Attfield created the recipe it adapts at Dandelyan in London in August 2018; Dandelyan stood at Sea Containers on the South Bank, and Hot Dinners calls Lyaness its replacement there. It takes its frame from Chris Jepson’s London Calling, which Difford’s Guide says he created at Milk & Honey in London in 2002, and puts the parent drink in its name.
Our recipe follows Difford’s Guide’s adaptation of Attfield’s, which Difford’s sums up as a banana and fino sherry gin sour where both flavours are subtle. That is a fair description of the glass.
What Changed From the London Calling
The changes are small. The gin comes down from 45ml to 40ml and the fino halves to 7.5ml, so both share the space with the fruit. Banana liqueur goes in at 10ml. The lemon rises from 15ml to 20ml to answer the liqueur’s sugar, and 7.5ml of rich syrup replaces 15ml of ordinary syrup. The orange bitters go, leaving the banana and the sherry as the only seasoning.
Our London Calling beside the Banana Calling
London Dry gin
- London Calling
- 45ml
- Banana Calling
- 40ml
Fino sherry
- London Calling
- 15ml
- Banana Calling
- 7.5ml
Banana liqueur
- London Calling
- None
- Banana Calling
- 10ml
Fresh lemon juice
- London Calling
- 15ml
- Banana Calling
- 20ml
Sugar syrup
- London Calling
- 15ml, one to one
- Banana Calling
- 7.5ml, rich two to one
Orange bitters
- London Calling
- Two dashes
- Banana Calling
- None
Glass
- London Calling
- Coupe
- Banana Calling
- Nick & Nora
UK units
- London Calling
- About 2.1
- Banana Calling
- About 1.9
| Element | London Calling | Banana Calling |
|---|---|---|
| London Dry gin | 45ml | 40ml |
| Fino sherry | 15ml | 7.5ml |
| Banana liqueur | None | 10ml |
| Fresh lemon juice | 15ml | 20ml |
| Sugar syrup | 15ml, one to one | 7.5ml, rich two to one |
| Orange bitters | Two dashes | None |
| Glass | Coupe | Nick & Nora |
| UK units | About 2.1 | About 1.9 |
Ten Millilitres of Banana
Banana liqueur is sweet and its flavour is loud, so a small pour goes a long way. At 10ml against 40ml of gin it adds a ripe, cooked-fruit roundness to the middle of the drink without announcing itself. Push it to 15ml and the drink starts to taste of banana first.
Bottles vary widely. The better ones are made from real fruit and carry some bitterness at the edge. Many cheaper ones are a single banana aroma compound and a lot of sugar, and at this measure they add sweetness and nothing that reads as fruit.
Fino in a Small Dose
Fino is the driest, palest sherry, aged under a layer of yeast that gives it a salty, bready, green-almond character. At 7.5ml it is seasoning rather than flavour: it dries the finish and makes the lemon taste sharper, and it stops the banana turning the drink sweet.
It only works fresh. In our experience an open bottle of fino loses its edge within a week, even in the fridge, and an old one adds a dull nuttiness instead. Half bottles are the practical answer.
How to Serve It
Pour it into a Nick & Nora that has been in the freezer, through a fine strainer to keep shards out. A dried banana chip pegged to the rim is the only sign of the fruit before the first sip. Pour a London Calling beside it and the difference the banana makes is easy to find.
For the parent drink, make a London Calling; for the plain sour underneath both, a Gin Sour.
Make it at home
The Spirit
GinGin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, juniper must lead the taste, the floor is 37.5% ABV, and the route the flavour takes sets the grade: plain gin, distilled gin or London gin. Our recipes count it at 40%, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Banana Calling?
Who created the Banana Calling?
What changed from the London Calling?
Does it taste of banana?
Which banana liqueur should I use?
Can I use ordinary sugar syrup?
How strong is a Banana Calling?
Sources.
Correct as of 18 October 2026.
- Difford’s Guide, “Banana Calling” (secondary source: adapted from a recipe created in August 2018 by Cameron Attfield at Dandelyan in London, a riff on London Calling created by Chris Jepson in 2002; 40ml gin, 10ml Giffard Banane du Brésil, 7.5ml Lustau fino, 20ml lemon, 7.5ml 2:1 syrup).
- Difford’s Guide, “London Calling” (secondary source: adapted from a recipe created in 2002 by Chris Jepson at Milk & Honey in London, made for a Drinks International competition; inspired the Banana Calling).
- Hot Dinners, “Lyaness is the replacement for World’s Best Bar Dandelyan at Sea Containers” (secondary source: Lyaness replaced Dandelyan at Sea Containers, 20 Upper Ground, South Bank, London).
- Difford’s Guide, “Giffard Banane du Brésil” (secondary source: product page, alc./vol. 25%).
- Lustau, “Fino del Puerto” (maker’s page: 100% Palomino, aged under flor; alcohol 15%).
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London Calling
London Calling is 45ml of London Dry gin, 15ml of fino sherry, 15ml of fresh lemon juice, 15ml of sugar syrup and two dashes of orange bitters, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, finished with an expressed grapefruit twist. About 2.1 UK units. Difford’s Guide dates the original to 2002, by Chris Jepson at Milk & Honey in London, made for a Drinks International competition. CLASS magazine says it became a regular on the Milk & Honey menu and then appeared on cocktail lists the world over. CLASS notes that the name is shared with the classic album by the Clash. Structurally it is a gin sour with a little fino added. At 15ml the sherry does not taste like sherry. It dries the finish, adds a faint salty, nutty note and makes the lemon seem sharper, while the orange bitters link the wine to the gin’s citrus botanicals.
Daiquiri
A Daiquiri is 60ml white rum, 20ml fresh lime juice and two bar spoons of caster sugar. Stir the sugar into the rum and lime in the shaker until it dissolves, then add ice, shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strain into a chilled coupe. About 2.4 UK units. Those are the IBA’s measures, and its method dissolves the sugar first too. The name belongs to Daiquirí, an iron-mining district and beach near Santiago de Cuba. Difford’s Guide credits Jennings Stockton Cox, an American engineer who led one of the first mining parties into Cuba’s iron-ore country after the Spanish-American War of 1898; the Oxford Companion has him making or supervising the first Daiquiri in 1896, and a Santiago bartender naming it in 1908. Difford’s says Constantino Ribalaigua Vert of Havana’s El Floridita made the frozen version famous. With three ingredients and no liqueur or bitters, the Daiquiri hides nothing. A flat rum, tired lime or undissolved sugar shows in the first sip.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 18 October 2026