The recipe
- 1 ozApple brandy30 ml
- ½ ozYellow Chartreuse15 ml
- ½ ozBénédictine15 ml
- 2 dashesAngostura bitters
How to make it
- 1Shake everything with ice.
- 2Strain into a chilled coupe.
Kappeler measures in ponies; the numbers take a pony as 1 oz. Many bartenders now stir it.
The ratio
2 : 1 : 1
In parts, a Widow’s Kiss is 2 Calvados, 1 Chartreuse and 1 Bénédictine. Change one part and you have a cousin; the closest are below.
Built the same way
Head to head
More Martinis & Manhattans
- Adonis — Sweet vermouth and sherry with orange bitters, stirred: a soft, low-alcohol aperitif named for an 1880s Broadway hit.
- Algonquin — Rye, dry vermouth and pineapple juice: a dry, fruity Manhattan cousin.
- Bamboo — Dry vermouth and dry sherry in equal parts with orange bitters, stirred: light, nutty and dry, at about half the strength of a Martini.
- Bijou — Gin, green Chartreuse and sweet vermouth in equal parts with orange bitters, stirred: herbal, sweet and strong.
- Black Manhattan — A Manhattan with the Sicilian amaro Averna in place of sweet vermouth: darker, bittersweet and a little herbal.
- Bobby Burns — Scotch and sweet vermouth in equal parts with a few dashes of Bénédictine: a softer, honeyed Rob Roy named for the poet.