Bijou

The original recipe calls for equal parts of the three ingredients. Newer interpretations of the cocktail increase the gin and lower the chartreuse in order to prevent the latter from overpowering the drink.

Even if you use the minimum listed amount of Chartreuse, you will still feel its presence. Play around with the ratios until you find the one you like the most.

In order to cut the sweetness, consider twisting a lemon peel over the cocktail and discard it. The lemon aroma will play nicely with the chartreuse.

This cocktail can be a step to help you get into spirit-forward cocktails. While both the Green Chartreuse and the gin are high on ABV, the sweet vermouth will round things out nicely.

Green Chartreuse is one of those ingredients which will really surprise you the first time you try it. It has a very peculiar, complex and delicious flavor combination. Use this to your advantage! Surprise your guests if they’re also unfamiliar with the liqueur.

This cocktail first appeared in the 1900’s revised edition of Harry Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual. The word bijou means jewel in french. Apparently, Johnson named the cocktail when he noticed each ingredient matched the color of a precious stone.

There’s a couple of different recipes with the same name that came out around the time Harry Johnson published his book. These other recipes use orange curaçao or Grand Marnier instead of chartreuse, and may also swap the sweet vermouth for the dry variety. 

This cocktail used to be very popular when it was first created, but the recipe was forgotten after US prohibition. It regained its popularity after bartender Dale DeGroff rediscovered the recipe in the 1980s and modified it to suit a more modern palate.