Volume I

The Bijou

The Secretary

Nothing added, nothing removed

Historical context

The Bijou — French for "jewel" — was created by Harry Johnson and published in his 1900 Bartender's Manual. It is not fashionable. It has never been fashionable. It was fashionable briefly in the 1890s and then the century changed and the drink retreated into the kind of obscurity that suits certain things better than visibility does. The Secretary drinks it because it has been around longer than almost anyone knows.

Secretary's note: He was asked once why he drinks a cocktail no one orders anymore. He considered the question — longer than is comfortable and shorter than is rude — and said: "Because it keeps excellent records of itself." He then opened his ledger. The conversation was, by his judgment, complete.

Ingredients

  • 1 oz

    London Dry gin

  • 1 oz

    Green Chartreuse

  • 1 oz

    Sweet vermouth

    Italian style, specifically a producer from Turin whose label has not changed since 1870 and whose ownership The Secretary has traced through a family tree that took some time to reconstruct.

  • 1 dash

    Orange bitters

Optional

A single green Castelvetrano olive on a pick, rested across the rim — sourced from a specific estate in western Sicily, cured in brine with wild fennel and a citrus he has declined to identify precisely.

Method

  1. Stir over ice. Long. Longer than seems necessary.

  2. Strain into a chilled coupe.

  3. Express a lemon peel, discard it.

  4. No garnish beyond the optional olive, if used.

  5. He makes this drink himself, always, with movements that members have described as "mechanical" and "somehow ceremonial at the same time."

GlasswareChilled coupe
GarnishLemon peel expressed and discarded. Optional: Castelvetrano olive on a pick.
MemberThe Secretary →
VolumeVolume I of the Compendium
The Secretary's note

He was asked once why he drinks a cocktail no one orders anymore. He considered the question — longer than is comfortable and shorter than is rude — and said: "Because it keeps excellent records of itself." He then opened his ledger. The conversation was, by his judgment, complete.