A Cocktail With a Theater Kid Soul

Arsenic and Old Lace is a floral, Martini-style cocktail made with London dry gin, dry vermouth, crème de violette, and absinthe. Though versions of the drink date back to the 1910s under various names, it didn’t gain widespread popularity until the 1940s, when it was rechristened after Joseph Kesselring’s hit Broadway play. The dark comedy’s success — and the beloved 1944 Frank Capra film adaptation starring Cary Grant — helped cement the cocktail’s place in the canon.

The earliest known iteration, a shaken equal-parts combination, appeared in Hugo Ensslin’s 1917 Recipes for Mixed Drinks as the Attention Cocktail. By the time it showed up in Harry Craddock’s 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book, renamed the Atty Cocktail, the proportions had shifted to more closely resemble the Arsenic and Old Lace as it’s made today.

The name Arsenic and Old Lace first appeared in 1941 — the same year Kesselring’s play premiered — in Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion by former Broadway producer Crosby Gaige. The cheeky rebrand helped propel the drink into the cultural zeitgeist, where it has remained ever since.

Why the Arsenic and Old Lace cocktail works

The Arsenic and Old Lace is often classified as a Martini variation, but the addition of crème de violette and absinthe gives it a character all its own — heady, aromatic, and unmistakably floral.

London dry gin forms the cocktail’s crisp backbone, bringing bright juniper and subtle spice. Crème de violette, a sweet violet liqueur known for its striking purple hue, layers in perfumed floral notes. A rinse or dash of absinthe adds a distinctive anise edge, while dry vermouth tempers the sweetness and herbal intensity, rounding out the drink. The result is a complex yet poised cocktail that feels both vintage and timeless.