The History Of The Charlie Chaplin, The Cocktail Named After Hollywood Royalty

It's almost inconceivable that the name "Charlie Chaplin" brings blank stares in modern days. That's until remembering that the Golden Age silent film star had his initial heyday in the 1920s and '30s — about 100 years ago. Even still, he was an unforgettable pioneer of early cinema and the undisputed star of pantomime-style slapstick comedy, appearing in almost 90 films. A cocktail bearing his name was inevitable, and it's resurgence today is well-deserved. 

The burgeoning new film industry launched Charlie Chaplin, formally Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, from London, England, to stardom. His first film, "Making a Living," debuted in 1914, but his most beloved character, The Little Tramp, appeared later that year in "Kid Auto Races at Venice," a role not unfamiliar to his own real life as an orphan at age 10. With stardom came prosperity, and Chaplin was known to frequent the posh bar at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel. That is, without coincidence, where the cocktail bearing his name was born and thrived, even in the tough years to come.

The Charlie Chaplin drink preceded Prohibition, yet survived the long nationwide alcohol ban lasting from 1920 to 1933. Just a year after its repeal, in 1934, the cocktail was eternally grafted into spirits infamy when the recipe appeared in "The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book." Purists today mostly stick to that original recipe, but with two slight modern-day alterations. Back then, it involved only three core ingredients: lemon juice, sloe gin, and apricot brandy. In modern bartending, it's the brandy and the citrus that now get some leeway.

A modern-day 2016 update of the original 1934 Waldorf-Astoria cocktail book drops the word "old" for a title of simply "The Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book."  It also, fortunately, sanctions a modern update of the Charlie Chaplin cocktail recipe. At the hands of update author Frank Caiafa, the apricot brandy gives way to the more accessible apricot liqueur, which typically has added sweeteners and less alcohol than a genuine apricot brandy, a type of brandy made from the distilled juice of the namesake fruit. It's also much easier to find. Some popular brands include Luxardo, an apricot brandy liqueur made in Italy, and the Rothman & Winter version from Austria. 

While the original Waldorf-Astoria bar recipe specifies using fresh lemon juice, most mixologists today opt for lime juice, which tends to be less sweet with more tangy tartness. The citrus is really a matter of preference, though. The sloe gin, however, is a core defining component that's essential for a genuine Charlie Chaplin cocktail. Sloe gin, to the uninitiated, is a different sort of liqueur that is made from a small, red stone fruit known as a sloe drupe. 

It grows on blackthorn shrubs and is a longtime British favorite for steeping with gin and sugar to make fruit liqueurs. Together, the apricot liqueur, sloe gin, and lime juice create the quintessential modern Charlie Chaplin cocktail. Just place an ounce of each with ice in a cocktail shaker and shake to chilled perfection. History is largely silent on whether The Little Tramp himself experienced his namesake cocktail, but given his frequent presence at Waldorf-Astoria, there's a good chance he did.