Lafayette Flip · Better Sorts Social Club

Credit: Brian Samuels
By Eric Twardzik · 02/02/2019

These days, it can seem like all the once-forgotten classic cocktails have been rediscovered. But Naomi Levy, lead bartender at Better Sorts Social Club, is still turning up fresh finds.

One of those is the Lafayette Flip, which Levy found in the 1892 book The Flowing Bowl: When and What to Drink by William Schmidt (writing under the curious pen name The Only William).

“I had never heard of it or seen it on any menu,” Levy says. “I Googled it, and it didn’t even show up. To me, that was cool.”

The cocktail—which Levy has updated slightly by altering measurements—belongs to the flip category and is made with an entire egg. In addition to heavy cream and rye whiskey, it also contains some of Levy’s favorite flavors from Green Chartreuse and the orange liqueur Curaçao.

“To me chartreuse and orange are a pairing made in heaven. They work beautifully together,” Levy says.

The final product is as rich and frothy as you’d expect, but the herbaceousness of the Green Chartreuse and the spice of the rye still shine through the egg and cream at the finish. And if Levy is correct, the Lafayette Flip isn’t the only worthy cocktail waiting to be saved from obscurity.

“There’s still a lot of undiscovered gems out there,” she says.

Lafayette Flip
1½ ounces Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Rye Whiskey

1 ounce heavy cream
½ ounce Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
¼ ounce Green Chartreuse
¼ ounce simple syrup
1 egg
Orange peel, for expression

Add all ingredients to a shaker without ice and shake for about 15 seconds to combine. Add ice and shake again until chilled. Double strain into a coupe glass and express orange peel over the surface of the drink.

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