Gin pahit
A bitter gin drink from colonial Malaya, linked to Maugham.
Gin pahit is a cocktail of gin and Angostura bitters, associated with the British colonial period in Malaya. Its Malay name translates to "bitter gin." The Raffles Hotel's recipe calls for 1½ ounces of gin and ½ ounce of Angostura bitters, but a 1930s drinks book equates it to a pink gin, which would use far less bitters.
W. Somerset Maugham, who traveled extensively in Maritime Southeast Asia, featured the drink in several works. In his 1926 short story "P. & O.," the character Gallagher, an Irishman living in the Federated Malay States, orders one. Gin pahit also appears in Maugham's "The Yellow Streak" (set in Borneo), "Footprints in the Jungle," "The Book-Bag," "The Letter" (all set in Malaya), "The Outstation" (where two Malay boys bring gin pahits), and in the novel *The Narrow Corner* (opening line of Chapter xviii). His 1930 travelogue *The Gentleman in the Parlour* mentions it in Chapter iii. The Raffles Long Bar in Singapore still listed gin pahit on its cocktail board as late as 1985. The drink is also ordered by Captain Biggar in P.G. Wodehouse's *The Return of Jeeves*.
David A. Embury, in *The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks*, gives a recipe using yellow gin, three dashes of Angostura bitters, and two dashes of absinthe. The pink gin, a traditional Royal Navy drink, was made by adding bitters to a glass first, with the barman then asking "In or Out, Sir?"—and no ice.
- Type
- Cocktail
- Origin
- Colonial Malaya
- Main ingredients
- Gin, Angostura bitters
- Associated with
- British colonial era, Raffles Hotel, W. Somerset Maugham
- Alternate name
- Pink gin (disputed proportion of bitters)
Lore & Background
Gin pahit appears in several works by W. Somerset Maugham, including his short story 'P. & O.' (Copyright 1926), where the character Gallagher, an Irishman who had lived in the Federated Malay States for 25 years, orders the drink. It also features in 'The Yellow Streak', set in Borneo; 'Footprints in the Jungle', 'The Book-Bag', and 'The Letter', all set in Malaya; in 'The Outstation' (where two Malay boys bring in gin pahits); and in the novel The Narrow Corner (opening line of Chapter xviii). Maugham himself spent many years in Maritime Southeast Asia and was acquainted with the drink from his travels, referring to it in the opening pages of his 1930 travelogue 'The Gentleman in the Parlour' (Chapter iii).
Reader's Guide
Gin pahit holds significance as a colonial-era cocktail emblematic of British life in Malaya, preserved in literature and hotel lore. The Raffles Long Bar in Singapore listed it on the cocktail board as late as 1985. The drink is also mentioned by Captain Biggar in The Return of Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse. David A. Embury states that this drink is made with yellow gin and 3 dashes of Angostura bitters to 2 dashes of absinthe, in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. The article notes a dispute: the Raffles recipe uses ½ ounce of bitters, while a 1930s book equates it to a pink gin, which would imply considerably less bitters. A traditional Royal Navy pink gin involved adding bitters to the glass first, with the barman asking 'In or Out, Sir?'—a detail that underscores the drink's layered history.
Did You Know?
- The name 'gin pahit' means 'bitter gin' in Malay.
- W. Somerset Maugham referenced gin pahit in at least six of his stories and a travelogue.
- David A. Embury's recipe calls for yellow gin, 3 dashes of Angostura bitters, and 2 dashes of absinthe.
More in Cocktails with gin 1-24
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