Revisiting the award-winning Red Lion cocktail from 1937

Food & Drink · Published 30 September 2026 · Updated 19 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Step back into the era of the Café Royal Cocktail Book. This video demonstrates how to prepare the Red Lion, a gin-based drink that earned first prize in a 1933 cocktail competition.

Using the classic W.J. Tarling Café Royal Cocktail Book as a guide, this demonstration recreates a piece of cocktail history. The preparation involves frosting the rim of a glass in sugar to complement the gin-based recipe.

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