Nuclear Daiquiri

Gregor de Gruyther

Apr 6

In January 2023, the Carthusian monks of Chartreuse abbey, France, announced they would not be increasing production of their 300 year old, in-demand, eponymous herbal liqueur. The drinking world reeled. The monks remained nonplussed, and silent on the matter. Which means that this particular cocktail pairing, which uses the scarce liquid, is rather special. But a toast to the MRI would not have been complete without an equally magnetic cocktail. Some may know that the term MRI was adopted after the original name, NMR, was deemed too scary for patients to handle and accept. NMR stood for “nuclear magnetic resonance”, and physicians feared that patients wouldn’t want to go into a machine that was called “nuclear” anything. But we’re going nuclear again for this toast.

“No garnish can withstand the awesome power of the Nuclear Daiquiri.” – Gregor de Gruyther

The Nuclear Daiquiri was born at “LAB”, the London Academy of Bartender that served as London’s epicenter for the modern cocktail revival in the late ‘90s. LAB was a training ground for new up and coming bartenders for years before it opened to the public as a high energy drinking destination. Gregor de Gruyther was one of these up and comers, and wanted to make his mark with a potent twist on the classic daiquiri. His Chartreuse laden drink would become a cult classic, although when it hit the menu in 2005 it was not initially notable. Gruyther died just a few years later and never got to see his cocktail take flight in the hearts and imagination of its current devotees. The rise in popularity of the drink is attributed to the British steakhouse Hawksmoore, where a frozen banana version was featured in 2012 and the original came to light again. The cocktail is delicious, with a prominent herbal note and unusual accents from the falernum, an almond and ginger liqueur. I highly recommend drinking these while watching Oppenheimer. Cheers!