‘Twas brillig, and the sippy toves … No? That’s wrong? Okay, how about …

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!”

Could Lewis Carroll—a clergyman, noted poet, and author of children’s classics including Alice in Wonderland—have been sermonizing about gin in his classic poem? He is too long gone to ask, although elements of his biography suggest he had some distinctly non-sacred interests, leading me to guess he had a nip or two of the juniper now and then. 

And really, he must have been drinking or smoking something to write some of the things for which we know him best, including Jabberwocky. Or perhaps he was just extremely repressed and this is how he sublimated.

This cocktail is a Simon Difford update of a recipe that first appeared in Harry Craddock’s 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, with Harry’s notation that “This will make you gyre and gimble in the wabe until brillig all right, all right.”

These are four testy ingredients, so you may wish to adjust the proportions to taste. It’s dry and pleasantly bittered—attributable to the Kina and Lillet Blanc—and slightly salty from the Fino sherry.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
      Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

JABBERWOCK
1 oz London Dry or Plymouth Gin
1 oz Fino sherry
½ oz Kina aromatized wine (I used Bonal – gentian/quina)
½ oz Lillet Blanc
2 dashes Fee Brothers Gin Barrel Aged Orange Bitters

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass, add plenty of fresh ice, and stir for 20 seconds or so until well chilled. Strain the mix into a chilled martini glass or coupe, and garnish with a twist of lemon zest.