20th Century
A 20th Century is 45ml of London Dry gin, 22.5ml of Lillet Blanc, 15ml of white crème de cacao and 22.5ml of fresh lemon juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with a lemon twist. About 2.5 UK units. It was first printed in London in 1937, in the Café Royal Cocktail Book compiled by William J. Tarling, and credited there to C.A. Tuck. Tarling gave two parts gin to one each of Kina Lillet, white crème de cacao and lemon. We keep his gin, wine and lemon and pour a little less cacao, so the lemon stays in front. The cacao is the surprise. The white kind tastes of vanilla and cocoa butter rather than dark chocolate, so against lemon it reads as a lemon tart more than a chocolate drink. Kina Lillet was reformulated in 1986, and accounts differ on whether the quinine was reduced: Difford’s Guide says it was, DrinkBoy says it was not. Lillet Blanc makes a softer drink; Cocchi Americano, with more quinine, makes a more bitter one.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Lemon twist
Ingredients
45ml
A London Dry at 40% ABV with clear juniper. It is the largest pour and keeps the cacao and the wine in their place.
22.5ml
A Bordeaux aromatised wine at 17% ABV, standing in for the Kina Lillet of 1937. Cocchi Americano, with more quinine, makes a more bitter drink.
15ml
The clear kind, at about 24% ABV, tasting of vanilla and cocoa butter. Dark crème de cacao muddies the colour and pushes the drink towards dessert.
22.5ml
Squeezed the same day. A quarter of the drink and its only acid, set against two sweet ingredients.
Instructions
Chill a coupe and squeeze the lemon juice the same day.
Add the gin, Lillet Blanc, white crème de cacao and lemon juice to a shaker.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe.
Express a lemon twist over the surface and drop it in.
Our version
Tarling’s Café Royal proportions of 1937, two parts gin to one each of aperitif wine, white crème de cacao and lemon, with Lillet Blanc for the reformulated Kina Lillet and the cacao cut to 15ml.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
White crème de cacao only. The dark kind is coloured and tastes of cocoa, so the drink turns muddy brown and the lemon loses the argument. Hold the cacao at 15ml. Tarling’s proportions would put it level with the lemon at 22.5ml, and at that level the vanilla starts to lead. Taste before you go up. Lillet Blanc and Cocchi Americano are wines at about 17% ABV. Keep an open bottle in the fridge and finish it within a few weeks, because a tired one tastes flat and the drink has little else to cover for it.
Behind the 20th Century
Flavour Profile
Tuck, Tarling and the Café Royal
The drink is first printed in 1937, in the Café Royal Cocktail Book. William J. Tarling, head bartender at the Café Royal on Regent Street and president of the United Kingdom Bartenders’ Guild, compiled it, and he credits the 20th Century to C.A. Tuck.
The name is usually traced to the 20th Century Limited, the New York Central’s express between New York and Chicago from 1902 to 1967. By 1935 it made the run in about sixteen and a half hours, and passengers boarded over a crimson carpet, the origin of the phrase red-carpet treatment. Henry Dreyfuss’s streamlined train followed in June 1938, a year after the drink, so if the story is right Tuck named it for the older train.
White Cacao Against Lemon
White crème de cacao is a clear liqueur of cacao beans and usually vanilla. It carries the scent of chocolate without the roasted bitterness, so against lemon it behaves more like vanilla than like cocoa. The comparison that helps is a lemon tart: sharp citrus with something soft and sweet underneath.
The gin keeps that from turning into pudding. At 45ml it is the largest pour, and its juniper gives the cacao and the wine something dry to sit against. The lemon then sets the pace. With equal measures of cacao and lemon, as in Tarling’s proportions, the vanilla comes forward; at 15ml it stays a finish.
Kina Lillet, Lillet Blanc and Cocchi
Tuck’s recipe called for Kina Lillet, a Bordeaux aperitif wine with a pronounced quinine bitterness. It was reformulated in 1986 and has been sold since as Lillet Blanc. Accounts differ on whether the quinine was reduced: Difford’s Guide says it was cut sharply, DrinkBoy says the level never changed.
That matters here because the wine was the drink’s bitter edge. Lillet Blanc gives a rounder, gentler 20th Century. Cocchi Americano, at 16.5% ABV and with more quinine, gives it more bite. The same choice comes up in the Corpse Reviver No. 2 and the Vesper, and the answer is the same: either is correct, and Cocchi gives the more bitter, quinine-led reading.
Tarling’s Proportions, Ours and the 21st Century
The 20th Century in the Café Royal Cocktail Book, as we make it, and the tequila 21st Century
Spirit
- Café Royal, 1937
- Gin, two parts
- 20th Century (ours)
- 45ml London Dry gin
- 21st Century
- 60ml blanco tequila
Aperitif wine
- Café Royal, 1937
- Kina Lillet, one part
- 20th Century (ours)
- 22.5ml Lillet Blanc
- 21st Century
- None
White crème de cacao
- Café Royal, 1937
- One part
- 20th Century (ours)
- 15ml
- 21st Century
- 22.5ml
Lemon juice
- Café Royal, 1937
- One part
- 20th Century (ours)
- 22.5ml
- 21st Century
- 22.5ml
Absinthe
- Café Royal, 1937
- None
- 20th Century (ours)
- None
- 21st Century
- Glass rinse
UK units
- Café Royal, 1937
- Depends on the measure
- 20th Century (ours)
- About 2.5
- 21st Century
- About 3.0
| Element | Café Royal, 1937 | 20th Century (ours) | 21st Century |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit | Gin, two parts | 45ml London Dry gin | 60ml blanco tequila |
| Aperitif wine | Kina Lillet, one part | 22.5ml Lillet Blanc | None |
| White crème de cacao | One part | 15ml | 22.5ml |
| Lemon juice | One part | 22.5ml | 22.5ml |
| Absinthe | None | None | Glass rinse |
| UK units | Depends on the measure | About 2.5 | About 3.0 |
How to Serve It
Straight up, in a frozen coupe; the double strain keeps the pale surface clear. Express the twist over the drink so the oil sits on top, then drop it in. Serve it as an aperitif, best before dinner rather than after it.
For the tequila version, make a 21st Century; for Lillet with gin, Cointreau and lemon in equal parts, a Corpse Reviver No. 2.
Make it at home
The Spirit
GinGin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. GB law requires juniper to lead the taste and sets a 37.5% ABV floor; the usual bottle is 40%. The law grades it by how the flavour gets in, from plain gin through distilled gin to London gin, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a 20th Century cocktail?
Who created the 20th Century?
Why is it called the 20th Century?
Should I use Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano?
Does it taste of chocolate?
How does it compare with the 21st Century?
How strong is a 20th Century?
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026