Gypsy Queen
A Gypsy Queen is 60ml of vodka, 30ml of Bénédictine and a dash of Angostura, stirred with ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled Nick and Nora glass, with a lemon twist. About 3.6 UK units, more than most stirred drinks of its size, because Bénédictine is as strong as the vodka. The earliest known reference, found by the drinks historian David Wondrich, is a 1938 booklet from the Russian Tea Room in New York, which makes it one of the earliest vodka cocktails on record in America. David Embury, in 1948, gave the original as two parts vodka to one of Bénédictine, the ratio we use, and thought it too sweet. Vodka adds strength and little flavour, so Bénédictine is what you taste: honey, warm spice and herbs. The bitters and the lemon oil keep it from turning syrupy.
Glassware: Nick & Nora Glass
Garnish: Lemon twist
Ingredients
60ml
A clean vodka at 40% ABV. It brings strength and very little flavour, which leaves the liqueur exposed. One with a little body suits it better than the lightest.
30ml
A French herbal liqueur at 40% ABV, sweetened with honey, to a recipe that is not published. At 30ml it is the flavour of the drink, not a seasoning.
1 dash
One dash, about 0.8ml at 44.7% ABV. It dries the finish against the honey. Embury preferred orange bitters, which make a brighter, less spiced drink.
Instructions
Chill a Nick and Nora glass.
Add the vodka, Bénédictine and Angostura to a mixing glass.
Fill with cubed ice and stir for 20 to 30 seconds.
Strain into the chilled glass.
Express a lemon twist over the surface and drop it in.
Our version
Embury gave the original as two parts vodka to one of Bénédictine and preferred five or six to one with orange bitters. Ours keeps the original ratio, 60ml to 30ml, with a dash of Angostura.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Decide how sweet you want it before you pour. At two to one the drink sits at the rich end, and Embury found it too sweet. For a drier glass, keep the vodka at 60ml and drop the Bénédictine to 20ml, or to 10ml for Embury’s own preference. One dash of Angostura is enough. It dries the finish; a second dash adds clove to a liqueur already full of spice. Stir for 20 to 30 seconds and serve it very cold, in a small glass. A sweet, strong drink tastes heavier as it warms, so it is best in the first ten minutes.
Behind the Gypsy Queen
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
The earliest known reference to the Gypsy Queen is a 1938 booklet published by the Russian Tea Room in New York, found by the drinks historian David Wondrich. No bartender is named.
David Embury printed it in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks in 1948. He gave the original as two parts vodka to one of Bénédictine, found it too sweet, and recommended five or six to one, with orange bitters.
Vodka as a Frame
Most vodka drinks use the spirit to carry fruit or a mixer. This one uses it the way a Martinez uses gin, as the base of a stirred drink, except that vodka brings strength and very little flavour.
So the liqueur is heard on its own. Put gin in instead and you get a good drink, but juniper joins the herbs and the Bénédictine is no longer alone.
What Bénédictine Brings
Bénédictine is a French herbal liqueur at 40% ABV, sweetened with honey, to a recipe that is not published.
It leads with honey and warm spice and ends on a herbal bitterness. At a third of the drink it is the whole flavour, and the dash of Angostura and the lemon oil are there to keep that sweetness in check.
Three Ratios Compared
The Gypsy Queen at three ratios of vodka to Bénédictine
Two to one (ours, Embury’s original)
- Vodka
- 60ml
- Bénédictine
- 30ml
- Bitters
- A dash of Angostura
- Character
- Rich, honeyed
- UK units
- About 3.6
Three to one
- Vodka
- 60ml
- Bénédictine
- 20ml
- Bitters
- A dash of Angostura
- Character
- Drier, still sweet
- UK units
- About 3.2
Six to one (Embury’s preference)
- Vodka
- 60ml
- Bénédictine
- 10ml
- Bitters
- Orange bitters
- Character
- Dry, close to a vodka Martini
- UK units
- About 2.8
| Version | Vodka | Bénédictine | Bitters | Character | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two to one (ours, Embury’s original) | 60ml | 30ml | A dash of Angostura | Rich, honeyed | About 3.6 |
| Three to one | 60ml | 20ml | A dash of Angostura | Drier, still sweet | About 3.2 |
| Six to one (Embury’s preference) | 60ml | 10ml | Orange bitters | Dry, close to a vodka Martini | About 2.8 |
How to Serve It
Stirred cold and strained into a small chilled glass, with the lemon twist expressed over the top. The oil gives the nose something bright before a drink that is otherwise honey and spice. It suits the end of an evening better than the start.
For Bénédictine with gin and sweet vermouth, make a Vancouver; for Scotch sweetened with Drambuie, a Rusty Nail.
Make it at home
The Spirit
VodkaVodka is spirit made from a farmed crop, usually grain or potatoes, distilled and refined so that the taste of that crop is deliberately reduced. Its legal minimum is 37.5% ABV, most bottles are 40%, and it may not be given a predominant flavour, which separates it from flavoured vodka and from gin. In a mixed drink it adds strength and body while the other ingredients carry the taste.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Gypsy Queen?
Where does the Gypsy Queen come from?
Why is it so strong?
Is it too sweet?
Could I use gin instead?
What does Bénédictine taste like?
How strong is a Gypsy Queen?
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Vancouver
A Vancouver is 45ml of gin, 22.5ml of sweet vermouth, 7.5ml of Bénédictine and two dashes of orange bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and served up in a chilled Nick & Nora under a twist of lemon. About 2.5 UK units. It is named for the city and linked by tradition to the Sylvia Hotel on English Bay, a 1912 building that is said to have opened Vancouver’s first cocktail bar in 1954. The link is local tradition: no early recipe has come to light that fixes when or where the drink was first mixed. Structurally it is a Hanky Panky with Bénédictine where the Fernet-Branca would be: the same gin and sweet vermouth, seasoned with honey and herbs instead of menthol and bitterness. A barspoon is enough, and the drink is gentler and rounder for it.
Rusty Nail
A Rusty Nail is 45ml Scotch whisky and 25ml Drambuie, stirred for 15 to 20 seconds over one large ice cube in a rocks glass and finished with a lemon twist, expressed and dropped in. About 2.8 UK units. The IBA gives the same measures, a little under two parts whisky to one of liqueur. Drambuie is itself Scotch whisky, sweetened with heather honey and flavoured with herbs and spices, so the drink pairs a spirit with a sweeter version of itself. The pairing first appears in 1937 as the B.I.F., named after the British Industries Fair, and went through several names before Rusty Nail stuck in early-1960s New York. The ratio is the whole recipe. More Drambuie makes a honeyed after-dinner drink; more whisky makes it drier and leaves the honey as an accent.
Black Russian
A Black Russian takes 50ml of vodka and 20ml of coffee liqueur, stirred in a rocks glass over a single large cube for 15 to 20 seconds and served without a garnish. The measures are the IBA’s. About 2.4 UK units. It is ascribed to Gustave Tops, a Belgian barman, who created it in 1949 at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels in honour of Perle Mesta, then the United States ambassador to Luxembourg. Its name joins the vodka to the dark colour of the coffee liqueur. At five parts vodka to two of liqueur, the coffee seasons the drink rather than sweetening it. Float cream on top and it becomes a White Russian.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026