Variants (5)
The Mixicologist by C. F. Lawlor (1895, p.29) — C. F. Lawlor 1895
- Fill a mixing glass two thirds full of fine ice.
- Add the sugar, claret, and egg.
- Shake well and strain into a star champagne glass.
- Finish with nutmeg on top.
Garnish: Nutmeg
- Nose
- Nutmeg and cool red wine rise over the egg's soft richness.
- Palate
- It is smoother and more vinous than spirit-led flips, but still unmistakably part of the egg-textured family.
- Finish
- The finish is soft, spiced, and faintly wine-dry.
- Summary
- A late claret flip showing the family surviving in colder and more polished service.
Claret Flip matters because it preserves the flip family in a wine-centred rather than spirit-centred form. It helps show how the egg-texture tradition continues alongside newer cocktail naming and service refinements.
A thorough shake matters to integrate the egg and wine cleanly. Nutmeg remains a crucial family signal.
Compared with Coffee Cocktail, this is less liqueured and more wine-direct. Compared with earlier flips, it is colder and tidier in presentation.
New and Improved Bartenders' Manual by Harry Johnson (1900, p.247) — Harry Johnson 1900
| 1 whole | egg — fresh egg | base |
| 1.5 wine-glass | claret — claret wine | other |
| 0.5 glass | ice — shaved ice | other |
| nutmeg — nutmeg | other |
| 0.5 tbsp | sugar — sugar | sweetener |
- Add the fresh egg, sugar, shaved ice, and claret wine to a large bar glass or shaker.
- Shake well until thoroughly mixed.
- Strain into a fancy bar glass.
- Grate nutmeg on top and serve.
Garnish: Nutmeg
Ice: Shaved ice
- Nose
- Red wine and nutmeg give the flip a softer and less fortified aroma than the port-based branch.
- Palate
- This is a wine-led flip that feels slightly lighter and more vinous than the port line, but still fully within the egg-thickened family.
- Finish
- The finish is smooth, grape-rich, and lightly spiced.
- Summary
- A claret-based flip that shows the flexibility of the egg-and-wine branch.
Johnson's note that it is delicious and gives strength to delicate people is part of the old restorative rhetoric that often accompanies egg drinks.
Claret changes the drink more than the name suggests. The flip family is not just one wine swapped for another; texture and wine weight shift the whole impression.
Daly's Bartenders' Encyclopedia by Tim Daly (1903, p.64)
| 2 bar spoonfuls | sugar | base |
| 1.5 wine glass | claret | other |
| 1 | egg — fresh egg | other |
| 0.67 glass | ice — shaved ice | other |
| nutmeg — Add a little on top. | other |
- Shake the sugar, fresh egg, claret, and shaved ice thoroughly.
- Strain into a fancy bar glass, add a little nutmeg on top, and serve.
Garnish: Nutmeg.
Ice: Shaved ice
This is a useful cold claret-flip checkpoint from a source that preserves multiple wine-and-egg branches.
The shake-and-strain service matters more than any decorative garnish beyond the nutmeg.
The Up-to-Date Bartender's Guide by Harry Montague (1913, p.26)
| 0.5 large bar glass | ice — shaved ice | base |
| 1.5 jiggers | claret | other |
| 1 egg | egg | other |
| nutmeg — Sprinkle on top. | other |
| 2 teaspoonfuls | sugar — bar sugar | sweetener |
- Fill a large bar glass one-half full of shaved ice and add the dissolved bar sugar, egg, and claret.
- Shake well, strain into a punch glass, sprinkle nutmeg on top, and serve.
Garnish: Nutmeg
Ice: Shaved ice
The Ideal Bartender by Tom Bullock (1917, p.32) — Bullock 1917
| 2 heaping teaspoonfuls | sugar — Bar Sugar | base |
| 2 jiggers | claret — Claret Wine | other |
| 1 egg | egg — Whole egg broken in. | other |
| nutmeg — Sprinkled on top. | other |
- Fill a large bar glass half full of shaved ice.
- Shake thoroughly, strain into a punch glass, sprinkle with nutmeg on top, and serve.
Garnish: Nutmeg
Ice: Shaved ice
This matters because Bullock keeps the claret-based egg-drink branch visible rather than letting fortified-wine flips disappear from the late record.
The whole-egg shake and nutmeg finish are the central flip markers here.