Golden Cadillac Cocktail Recipe

The Golden Cadillac is a candy and creamy mid-century cocktail combining equal elements Galliano liqueur, white créme de cacao, and heavy cream. 

Poor Purple’s, an El Dorado, California bar nonetheless in operation, claims to be the birthplace of the Golden Cadillac in 1952. In line with the venue’s lore, a newly engaged couple got here in to have fun and requested bartender Frank Klein for a particular cocktail. Supposedly impressed by the couple’s shiny new automobile, Klein named the drink Gold Cadillac. 

Initially served in a Champagne coupe, the drink made it to Poor Purple’s menu and was an on the spot hit among the many regulars and guests alike. A lot in order that Galliano, the candy and natural Italian liqueur model, observed a rise in gross sales within the Northern California area. After discovering the drink, the corporate created a advertising and marketing marketing campaign round it within the mid-Sixties, making the cocktail identified around the globe.

The Golden Cadillac skilled a surge in recognition within the Seventies throughout Galliano’s heyday when Harvey Wallbangers had been the fad.

Why does the Golden Cadillac work?

Just like the Negroni or the Final Phrase cocktail, the Golden Cadillac is an equal elements drink, that means all of the elements concerned have the identical proportions. These easy recipes are bartender favorites not solely as a result of they’re really easy to recollect but additionally as a result of they’re simple templates to riff on. Swapping out only one ingredient can both barely tweak the recipe or change the drink totally.

Within the case of the Golden Cadillac, the closest relative with an identical profile and development is the Brandy Alexander, additionally made with créme de cacao and heavy cream, however with brandy because the third ingredient. What differentiates the 2 drinks is the sweeter and extra herbaceous profile of the Galliano liqueur within the Golden Cadillac versus the drier, heavier pour of brandy within the Brandy Alexander.

The 2 liqueurs present sweetness, viscosity, and depth of taste. Whereas the créme de cacao lends wealthy chocolate notes, the Galliano liqueur contributes quite a lot of flavors, together with vanilla, anise, and earthy aromatics. The heavy cream turns this drink right into a wealthy dessert beverage, offering an expensive mouthfeel akin to a boozy melted ice cream.