Sipwise

Dog's Nose

A Victorian pub classic: a measure of gin stirred quietly into a cold pint of pale ale, making it at once lighter and more potent.

More drinks like this
Dog's Nose cocktail made with beer, served in a pint glass
Base
beer
Glassware
Pint glass
Flavor Profile
herbalbitterrefreshing

Ingredients

  • 1 pint (16 oz) cold pale ale
  • 1 oz London Dry gin

Instructions

  1. 1Pour the pale ale into a chilled pint glass, leaving an inch of head room.
  2. 2Gently pour the gin down the inside edge of the glass so it merges with the ale.
  3. 3Stir once very slowly with a bar spoon, just enough to combine.
  4. 4Serve immediately without ice.

Origin & Story

England, early 19th century

The Dog's Nose is one of the oldest documented beer cocktails in the English-speaking world. Charles Dickens described a man who 'drank a glass of Dog's Nose, which your committee find, upon inquiry, to be compounded of warm porter, moist sugar, gin, and nutmeg' in the Pickwick Papers (1836). The name is thought to come from the cold, wet rim of the pint glass — a nose pressed against the glass being as cold and damp as a dog's. Victorian dockworkers and factory hands drank it to stretch their gin ration further while adding botanical warmth to a standard pint. Modern versions favour cold pale ale over warm porter and skip the nutmeg, letting the gin's botanicals bloom gently against the malt.