Porto Flip
A Porto Flip is 45ml of tawny port, 15ml of brandy and 10ml of egg yolk, dry shaken for 10 to 15 seconds, shaken hard with ice for 10 to 12 and double strained into a chilled coupe, with nutmeg grated over the top. About 1.5 UK units. The measures are the IBA’s; the dry shake is ours. The yolk is raw. Use British Lion eggs, which the Food Standards Agency advises can be eaten raw, and leave the drink out for anyone allergic to egg. Port is a fortified wine and contains sulphites. A flip takes the whole egg or the yolk rather than the white alone, so the drink is emulsified and silky rather than foamed. Tawny port brings nut, dried fig and caramel, the brandy gives it backbone, and fresh nutmeg lifts what would otherwise sit heavy. It is one short glass after dinner.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Nutmeg grated fresh over the surface at the table
Ingredients
45ml
At about 20% ABV. The IBA names red tawny port. Ageing with contact with air gives it nut, dried fig and caramel, which sit well with the yolk; a ruby’s bright fruit makes a sweeter, simpler drink. Port contains sulphites.
15ml
At 40% ABV. A third of the port measure, there for backbone rather than flavour. Without it the drink is a fortified wine with an egg in it.
10ml
About half a large yolk, raw. Its fat and lecithin bind the port and brandy into something silky and opaque; keep the white out, because it foams and spoils the surface. Following the FSA, British Lion-mark eggs are safe raw, including for vulnerable groups and in pregnancy; pasteurised carton egg is the alternative. Eating out, where the mark cannot be checked, the FSA advises vulnerable people to have their eggs thoroughly cooked. Contains egg, so not for anyone allergic.
Instructions
Chill a small coupe.
Separate the egg and measure 10ml of yolk, keeping out any white.
Add the port, brandy and yolk to a shaker and dry shake without ice for 10 to 15 seconds.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe and grate fresh nutmeg over the surface.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; method ours). Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Dry shake first. Yolk emulsifies rather than foams, and it needs agitation to bind the port and brandy into something silky: 10 to 15 seconds without ice, then 10 to 12 hard with it. An under-shaken flip is stringy. Separate the egg cleanly. White that crosses into the yolk foams under the shake and leaves bubbles on a surface the nutmeg needs flat. Grate the nutmeg fresh, over the glass. Pre-ground nutmeg has lost most of its aroma, and in a drink this rich the aroma is what keeps it from feeling heavy.
Behind the Porto Flip
Flavour Profile
What a Flip Is
The category is old and has narrowed along the way.
The early flip, as it is usually described, was a hot drink of beer, rum and sugar, heated with a red-hot iron. Egg came in as a thickener, and by the late nineteenth century the name had settled on a cold drink of spirit or fortified wine shaken with egg and sugar. Where the base is sweet enough, as port is, the sugar can go.
A flip uses the whole egg or the yolk alone. A drink with only the white in it is a sour, not a flip.
Who first made the Porto Flip is not recorded. The IBA lists it among its Unforgettables.
The Yolk
Ten millilitres is about half a large yolk, and it does a different job from egg white.
White is protein and water, and it builds foam, which is why a whiskey sour arrives with a head. Yolk is fat and lecithin, and it emulsifies instead. Shaken hard it binds the port and brandy into something silky and opaque, adding weight without sweetness.
Tawny, Not Ruby
The IBA names red tawny port, and the choice changes the drink.
Ruby port is aged briefly in large vessels with little air: fruity, sweet, purple and comparatively simple. Tawny ages longer in smaller casks with more air, turning amber-brown and developing nut, dried fig and caramel. Against an egg yolk the tawny’s nuttiness fits, where a ruby’s bright fruit makes a pudding of it.
A ten-year-old tawny is a sound level. Older bottles are wasted under the egg.
Beside the Eggnog and the Brandy Alexander
The Porto Flip beside our Eggnog and Brandy Alexander
Spirit or wine
- Porto Flip
- 45ml tawny port, 15ml brandy
- Eggnog
- 30ml brandy, 15ml dark rum
- Brandy Alexander
- 30ml cognac
Richness
- Porto Flip
- 10ml egg yolk
- Eggnog
- One egg, 60ml milk, 30ml cream
- Brandy Alexander
- 30ml cream
Sweetener
- Porto Flip
- From the port
- Eggnog
- 20ml sugar syrup
- Brandy Alexander
- 30ml dark crème de cacao
Allergens
- Porto Flip
- Egg, sulphites
- Eggnog
- Egg, milk
- Brandy Alexander
- Milk
Units (UK)
- Porto Flip
- About 1.5
- Eggnog
- About 1.8
- Brandy Alexander
- About 2.0
| Element | Porto Flip | Eggnog | Brandy Alexander |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit or wine | 45ml tawny port, 15ml brandy | 30ml brandy, 15ml dark rum | 30ml cognac |
| Richness | 10ml egg yolk | One egg, 60ml milk, 30ml cream | 30ml cream |
| Sweetener | From the port | 20ml sugar syrup | 30ml dark crème de cacao |
| Allergens | Egg, sulphites | Egg, milk | Milk |
| Units (UK) | About 1.5 | About 1.8 | About 2.0 |
All three are after-dinner drinks that lean on fat for texture. The Eggnog uses the whole egg with milk and cream and is the largest. The Brandy Alexander drops the egg for cream and chocolate liqueur. The Porto Flip is the smallest and the only one built on wine, which is why it is also the lightest.
How to Serve It
Double strained into a chilled small coupe, with nutmeg grated over the surface at the table.
Serve it after dinner, in place of a pudding, and serve one.
For the whole egg with milk and cream, make an Eggnog; for brandy with cream and cacao, a Brandy Alexander.
Make it at home
The Spirit
PortPort is the fortified wine of the Douro valley in northern Portugal, made by adding grape spirit part-way through fermentation, which stops the yeast and leaves the wine sweet. It is usually 19 to 22% ABV; our recipes take 20%. Ruby styles age briefly and stay fruity, tawny styles age longer in cask and turn nutty, and our Porto Flip and Port Old Fashioned both call for tawny.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Porto Flip?
What is the difference between a flip and a sour?
Why tawny port rather than ruby?
Is it safe to drink raw egg yolk?
Does a Porto Flip contain allergens?
Why is there no sugar in it?
How strong is a Porto Flip?
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 11 October 2026