Pegu Club

Yes, and most bars do. Cointreau is drier and more perfumed; a genuine curaçao like Pierre Ferrand brings more body and a touch of brandy warmth. If you only have a cheap sweet triple sec, cut it to 15 ml or the lime stops cutting through.

They do different jobs. Orange bitters push the curaçao's peel notes forward; Angostura lays a dry clove-and-cinnamon backbone underneath so the drink doesn't read as sweet. With only one of them the Pegu tastes thinner. With neither it's a mediocre gin sour.

Same skeleton, different mood. A Margarita leans on agave's vegetal edge and usually gets salt. This leans on juniper and bitters and gets a lemon twist, and it's served up with nothing on the rim, which leaves the bitterness as the loudest thing in the glass.

Usually the gin. A navy-strength or heavily botanical bottle fights the bitters instead of sitting under them, so a straightforward London dry at 40 to 44 percent works better. If it's still sharp, your limes may be underripe. Add 5 ml of syrup rather than more curaçao.

A classic Pegu Club calls for 45 ml (1.5 oz) Gin, 22 ml (0.75 oz) Triple sec / Cointreau, 22 ml (0.75 oz) Fresh lime juice, 1 dash Angostura Angostura bitters, 1 dash orange bitters Orange bitters. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard Pegu Club is roughly 30% 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.

A Pegu Club is shaken — the rule of thumb is to shake anything with citrus juice. About 13 seconds with plenty of ice chills and dilutes it correctly.