Classic cocktail · Guided recipe

Alaska

Nothing about this suggests the Arctic. Yellow Chartreuse against a dry London gin with a dash of orange bitters, gold in the glass and honeyed on the palate, the monastery's hundred-odd botanicals arguing quietly underneath.

Preparation~2 minEasyStrengthStrongabout 40% ABVMethodShaken6 guided stepsIngredients3Coupe or martini glass

Spirit-forward

In the glassGin · Yellow Chartreuse · Orange bitters

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What goes in

Ingredients

An empty clear coupe glass with a shallow rounded bowl and slender stem. — Serving glassCoupe glass

Set up before you pour

Use a coupe glass.

The stem keeps your hand away from a cold drink, while the rounded bowl makes an up serve easy to sip.

Standard size: 200 ml6¾ oz
Ice & serve: Chill it first; serve without ice.
If you don’t own one: Use a small martini glass or stemmed dessert glass.

Tools to set out

cocktail shaker
strainer (or a small sieve)
jigger or measuring spoon

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Scale to your coupe or martini glassWe’ll remember this glass size.

Gin60 ml
Yellow Chartreuse22 ml
Orange bitters2 dashes

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From bottle to glass

Method

01
Measure into the shaker
Pour 60 ml gin into your shaker
- Gin
02
Measure into the shaker
Add 22 ml yellow chartreuse
- Yellow Chartreuse
03
Measure into the shaker
Add 2 dashes orange bitters
- Orange bitters
04
Ice the shaker
Fill the shaker with ice
Why it mattersFill it right up — more ice chills faster with less watering down.
05
Seal and shake
Seal and shake hard
Why it mattersCold hands mean it’s working. Shake until the tin frosts over.
06
Strain cleanly
Strain into a chilled glass — no ice
Why it mattersPour through the strainer so the spent shaker ice stays behind.

Know your drink

About the Alaska

A gin highball, dry Martini and ruby bitter gin cocktail in a botanical bar.

What the Savoy said

The Alaska appears in Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, where the entry carries a dry aside pointing out that the drink is not, in fact, what people in Alaska live on. Craddock's book is full of that tone. The recipe had already been printed more than a decade earlier, so the Savoy popularized it rather than invented it.

Chartreuse has been made by Carthusian monks for more than two centuries, and the yellow bottling is the gentler of the two: lower proof, sweeter, colored by saffron rather than by chlorophyll. Supply has been tight since the order chose to cap production. If you find a bottle, this and the Last Word are the two best reasons to open it.

Common questions

Alaska FAQ

Green Chartreuse instead of yellow?

A different and much more aggressive drink. Green runs 55 percent and tastes of pine and mint; yellow is 40 percent, sweeter, carrying honey and saffron. If you only have green, drop it to 15 ml against the gin or the herbs flatten everything else.

Is there a cheaper substitute for Chartreuse?

Not really. Génépy comes closest and costs less, though it's lighter and drier, so add a few milliliters of syrup to compensate. Strega is sweeter and heavy on saffron. Nothing else in the herbal liqueur aisle carries the same weight on the palate.

Should it be three parts gin or four?

Older printings go as high as four to one, which is very dry indeed. This page sits closer to three to one, where most people end up. Tighten the Chartreuse if your gin is soft; loosen it if you're pouring a big juniper bomb.

Craddock's version is two ingredients. Does it want a third?

It needs something. Gin and Chartreuse overlap heavily and the drink goes one-note without a third voice in there. Orange bitters open up the citrus side of both. A grapefruit twist expressed over the top does a similar job if that's what's in the kitchen.

How strong is an Alaska?

A standard Alaska is roughly 40% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.

Is an Alaska shaken or stirred?

An Alaska is shaken. About 13 seconds with plenty of ice chills and dilutes it correctly.

What glass do you serve an Alaska in?

Serve an Alaska in a chilled coupe glass, well chilled — this drink is served without ice, so a cold glass keeps it cold.

Sharpen the technique

Skills used in this recipe

Hands holding both ends of a frosted two-tin cocktail shaker above a prepared home bar.

Technique6 min

How to shake a cocktail properly

The grip, timing, ice and visual cues that make shaken drinks colder and brighter.

Read the guide