Do You Know Of The Story Of The Savoy Hotel Disappearing White Lady?
Third in our set of classic cocktails perfectly named for a spooky hallowe’en…
The White Lady
If you take a walk around the Savoy, you may pass celebrities, gourmands and those celebrating important events but on 31st October, Hallowe’en, you may also bump into its numerous ‘ghosts’. The hotel may be relatively new (1889) but the site is ancient and with, at times, a rather bloody history.
Built on the site of Peter II Count of Savoy’s riverside palace, the area around the Savoy was famous for being the focal point of Wat Tyler’s peasant rebellion in 1381. The palace was burnt to the ground and not rebuilt until the reign of Henry VII. He built a hospital for the poor, needy and the homeless, a noble but also a political gesture from the king. The only part of this hospital to remain is The Savoy Chapel.
Are there ghosts at the Savoy?
At times, I wish I could see the ghost of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother leaving the Royal Peculiar and being taken into the Savoy via the secret back entrance. She would enjoy a gin and Dubonnet before having her Sunday lunch. Oh to see the dancing ghost of Fred Astaire and his sister who performed on the roof for a publicity photo. I would also have loved to have been a fly on the wall during the press conferences for The Prince and the Showgirl. Did Monroe and Olivier really not get on? If the walls could talk or even whisper we could get an insight into the many ghosts that keep this place alive. On to another spectral cocktail, The White Lady.
The White Lady Cocktail is a short, ghostly drink created in 1919 by Harry MacElhone at London’s Ciro Club. It was updated and dare I say it improved by American Bar head barman, Harry Craddock. In The Savoy Cocktail book (a compilation of cocktail recipes including many of his own, published 21st October 1930) he significantly increased the ratio of gin – hurrah! The White Lady became Harry Craddock’s signature cocktail and it was so popular that, during the 1927 renovations of The Savoy Hotel, he placed a cocktail shaker full of freshly made White Lady into the building’s walls.
To this day this cocktail shaker has never been found.
Here’s the Madam Geneva & Gent way of preparing the perfect While Lady
What You Will Need
50ml London Dry gin
25ml Triple Sec or Cointreau
25ml lemon juice
Egg white
Ice
Method
Fill a coupe glass or champagne saucer with lots of ice
Add 50ml London Dry Gin, 25ml Cointreau and 25ml lemon juice into a cocktail shaker with an egg white and dry shake (without ice) for approximately 20 seconds
Rest the shaker for 10 seconds then carefully open the shaker
Fill the shaker with ice and shake again for approximately 15 seconds or until the drink is very cold
Empty the glass of ice. And strain the drink into the glass
Enjoy!
Top Tip…When you do the first shake, wrap your shaker in a kitchen or tea-towel, a chemical reaction takes place between the acidic lemon juice and the egg white, causing the pressure in the shaker to increase. if you wrap the shaker you will protect yourself from it ‘spitting’ at you!