Pegu Club Cocktail Recipe

The Pegu Club is a drink in the sour category of cocktails that is made with gin, orange liqueur, fresh lime juice, and bitters. It has a tart, slightly sweet flavor profile with complex citrus notes. The Pegu Club is served ‘up’ in a coupe glass and is garnished with a lime twist.

This approachable cocktail is akin to a Margarita. It swaps gin for tequila is quite popular among bartenders. The Pegu Club’s history, though, is complicated. It’s said to have been invented around the turn of the 20th century at a bar located in the Pegu Club, a members club located in Yangon, Myanmar (then, Burma) that was frequented by British military and government officials during Britain’s occupation of Myanmar from 1824–1948.

This Gin Sour riff was the signature cocktail of the Pegu Club (eventually taking the establishment’s name) and was primarily popularized by the largely white male members who frequented the club. So while the drink has roots in Myanmar, its unlikely you’ll find it on local bar menus across the country today.

The simple recipe for the Pegu Club did make its way into 20th century cocktail books (including Harry MacElhone’s 1923 The ABCs of Mixing Cocktails) which helped cement it into the modern classic cocktail lexicon. The Pegu Club had a marked resurgence in 2005 when lauded bartender Audrey Saunders named her New York City-based cocktail lounge, Pegu Club, after the tart cocktail.

Why the Pegu Club works

The success of the Pegu Club is in its simplicity. The recipe is akin to both a Margarita or a Sidecar where fresh citrus juice and orange liqueur are both used. Unlike those classic drinks, though, the Pegu Club is built off a base of gin, and include aromatic bitters.

While any kind of gin will work here, leaning into gins with a citrusy flavor profile will double down on the bright, fresh notes present in the drink. Try, for example, Citadelle Gin or Dorothy Parker Gin. Gins that lean heavily on woodsy or herbaceous botanicals might clash with the fruitier notes.

Orange liqueur adds sweetness to the drink without being overly sugary. Look for a high-quality orange liqueur or orange curaçao (made from dried orange peels) for a more complex flavor profile.