Monkey gland (cocktail)

The Monkey Gland is a cocktail of gin, orange juice, grenadine and absinthe created in the 1920s by Harry MacElhone, owner of Harry's New York Bar in Paris, France.^[1]

Monkey Gland

IBA official cocktail
Type	Cocktail
Base spirit	Gin
Served	Straight up: chilled, without ice
Standard drinkware	Cocktail glass
IBA specified ingredients†	45 ml gin 45 ml orange juice 1 tablespoon absinthe 1 tablespoon grenadine
Preparation	Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, shake well with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Commonly served	All Day
† Monkey Gland recipe at International Bartenders Association

Some recipes substitute absinthe with pastis or Bénédictine.^[2]

The cocktail is known for its distinctive flavor, which combines the sweetness of orange with the herbal, slightly bitter notes of absinthe, creating a complex and intriguing profile.^[3]

It is named after the pseudo-scientific idea that grafting monkey testicle tissue into humans would increase longevity, the idea developed by the Russian doctor Serge Voronoff.^[4]