Porto Flip
Tawny port, a little cognac and an egg yolk shaken until silky, with nutmeg on top.
- Difficulty
- medium
- Prep time
- 4 min
- Strength
- 15.6% ABV
- Glassware
- Coupe glass
- Base
- liqueur led
- Serves
- 1
Related drinks
Ingredients
- Tawny port45ml
- Cognac15ml
- Egg yolk17ml
One medium egg yolk
Garnish: Freshly grated nutmeg
Method
- Chill a small coupe glass.
- Add the port, cognac and egg yolk to a shaker without ice and shake hard for 10 seconds to emulsify the yolk.
- Add ice and shake again, hard, for about 12 seconds.
- Double-strain into the chilled coupe.
- Grate a little fresh nutmeg over the top.
Compared with the IBA specification
The International Bartenders Association lists this drink among its The Unforgettables. Its specification is a standard for training and competition — one reference, not the only right way to make the drink.
CocktailHQ
- 45ml tawny port
- 15ml cognac
- 17ml egg yolk
IBA
- 15 ml Brandy
- 45 ml Red Tawny Port Wine
- 10 ml Egg Yolk
IBA ingredients as published at iba-world.com, retrieved 29 October 2026.
Allergen information
Contains an ingredient commonly associated with:
- Eggs (egg yolk)
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphites — usually (tawny port)
Products vary, and this describes ingredients rather than the bottles you use — check every label. It is not a guarantee that a drink is suitable for anyone with an allergy. How this is worked out
Your version
— private notes, kept on this device
Change a measure, note what you changed and why. It stays in this browser — it is not sent to CocktailHQ, not counted by analytics, and not shown to anyone.
Equipment
Don't have everything? Here's what works instead.
Fine strainer
Household swap: A tea strainer.
Glass and ice
No ice in the glass
Served up, the drink was chilled and diluted in the shaker or mixing glass and goes into a chilled glass without ice.
Over a large cube it stays cold longer, but keeps diluting — it becomes a different, slowly lengthening drink.
About 110ml once mixed
The recipe's coupe glass is typically 150–250ml.
- Workable:
- nick & nora glass, martini glass, champagne flute, rocks glass
- Oversized but acceptable:
- wine glass
- Unsuitable:
- highball glass
Needs a glass of about 116–122ml brimful.
How this is worked out
- A drink with no ice needs a little of the glass left empty — about a tenth — so it can be carried without spilling and has room for aroma.
- Filled to the top with cubes or packed crushed ice, roughly half to three-fifths of a glass is left for the drink.
- A drink built in the glass dilutes from the ice already there, so its melt water is not added on top.
- One large cube takes up roughly 65–125ml, from a sphere to a 5cm cube.
- Glass capacities are brimful and vary by maker — your own glass, measured with water, is the figure to trust.
Missing an ingredient?
Each swap below says what it changes and how to correct for it, so you can decide whether you are making this drink or a neighbouring one.
Instead of Tawny Port
Best substitute: Sherry
This is the base in this drink.
Quantity: Use a sweet oloroso or cream sherry, same amount
Flavour impact: Drier and more savoury-nutty — closer to a Sherry Flip.
What changes
Expect less sweetness and more bitterness. Still a good drink, and a slightly different one.
- Sweetness ↓
- Less sweetness leaves the acid and the spirit more exposed, so the drink will taste sharper and drier than it should.
- Bitterness ↑
- Bitterness builds across a drink rather than announcing itself, so this will read as a longer, drier finish.
- Character
- Both are nutty, and you lose dried fruit, caramel and sweet, and you gain saline-to-rich, complex and varies by style. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.
To correct for it
- Add a little more syrup, a small amount at a time, until the edges come back together.
- Pour slightly less, or lengthen the drink a little, and let the sweetness catch up.
Moderate confidenceShifts the drinkBecomes a variation
Make it better
- Grate the nutmeg fresh. Pre-ground nutmeg has lost most of its aroma, and the aroma is the point.
- Use the freshest eggs you can, and keep them cold until you crack them.
- Tawny is better than ruby here: its nutty, oxidative notes suit the egg.
- Chill the glass in the freezer for a few minutes beforehand — a warm glass takes the edge off a well-made drink fast.
- Shake hard for 12-15 seconds with plenty of ice — a proper shake chills and dilutes the drink in one step.
- Adjust sweetness gradually and taste as you go — it's easy to add more syrup, impossible to take it out.
Rescue this drink
- Lumpy or stringy
- Not shaken hard enough before the ice went in. Dry-shake longer, and double-strain.
- Smells eggy
- More fresh nutmeg, and make sure the egg is very fresh.
- Too sweet
- Add 5ml more cognac; the port carries all the sugar.
- Too rich to finishgeneral guidance
- Cream and coconut flatten the palate rather than refreshing it, so a second one is always harder work than the first. A squeeze of lime or lemon cuts through more effectively than reducing the cream, which just makes it thinner without making it brighter. Serving it in a smaller glass is the other honest answer.
- The foam collapses, or there is far too much of itgeneral guidance
- Collapsing usually means the dry shake was too short or came after the ice rather than before it. Too much foam is the opposite problem — an over-long dry shake with a small drink underneath. Fifteen seconds dry, then ten with ice, is the ratio to keep; if the head still runs over the glass, the drink is too small for the amount of white in it.
- Under-diluted (tastes harsh or too concentrated)general guidance
- For one serving, stir in a few drops of chilled water to open it up. For a batch, extend the shake time slightly on the next round.
Make ahead & storage
Make to order
Make this one to order — the foam has to be shaken fresh. You can still measure and group the ingredients in advance, which is most of the work.
- Egg yolk:
- The foam is built by the shake and cannot be made in advance.
Make it lighter
As written, about 1.5 UK units at roughly 15.6% ABV once diluted. 1 of six ways to lighten it work for this recipe. Units are an estimate of what is in the glass, not advice about drinking.
A smaller serveSupportedabout 1 units, 15.6% ABV
Every measure at two-thirds. The balance is untouched because the proportions are; the only trade-off is a smaller drink — use a smaller glass so it doesn't look stingy.
- 30ml Tawny Port
- 10ml Cognac
- 11ml Egg Yolk
Not recommended for this drink: a longer serve; reverse the ratio; split the base with a lower-strength modifier; give it the spritz treatment; replace part of it with an alcohol-free bottle
- A longer serve. A stirred, spirit-and-vermouth drink is about concentration and texture. Soda turns it into something thin and confused. Note: the same alcohol in more liquid — weaker per sip, not fewer units.
- Reverse the ratio. There is no wine-strength modifier — vermouth, sherry or Lillet — to swap measures with.
- Split the base with a lower-strength modifier. The recipe has no wine-strength modifier to move measure into, and choosing one for it would be writing a new drink.
- Give it the spritz treatment. There is no distilled spirit at the base to swap for sparkling wine.
- Replace part of it with an alcohol-free bottle. No bottle in this recipe has an alcohol-free counterpart in the catalogue, and we won't name one we haven't written up.
Or make something lighter by design: Grape Flip. All lighter drinks
What it tastes like
The taste, and what drives it
sweet, soft, very rich — a spirit and modifier drink served straight up, no ice.
Sweet
Dry → Sweet
Openly sweet, and balanced by something else rather than hidden.
What drives it: Tawny port — carries the most sugar into the glass. Worked out partly from ingredient category rather than from recorded detail.
Very rich
Light → Rich
Very rich — this is closer to a dessert than to a refreshment.
What drives it: Egg yolk — adds most of the weight. Worked out partly from ingredient category rather than from recorded detail.
Moderate
Delicate → Bold
Moderate: assertive enough to hold its own, mild enough for a second.
What drives it: Tawny port — is the most concentrated thing in the glass. Worked out partly from ingredient category rather than from recorded detail.
What you smell first
- Baking spiceLeadsBefore the first sip
From Freshly grated nutmeg
- Orchard fruit
From Cognac
- Vanilla
From Cognac
- Oak
From Cognac
Aromas marked as sitting above the drink reach you before the first sip — skipping that garnish changes the drink more than its size suggests.
How it was worked out
Each reading comes from the recipe's own recorded taste scores combined with what each ingredient contributes, weighted by how much of it is in the glass. About 42% of this drink by volume has detailed ingredient data behind it; the rest falls back to broader category rules.
How balance actually works →If it isn't right
What goes wrong with this drink, and why
Only the faults this particular recipe is actually prone to — open one for the likely cause, the adjustment, and what the adjustment costs you.
It's too sweet
- Likely cause
- Tawny port is carrying the sugar here, and it is the easiest thing in the drink to over-pour — syrup clings to a jigger and a "splash" is rarely the same twice.
- What to change
- Cut tawny port by about a third and rebuild. If it is already made, a little more of the base spirit or a dash of bitters will pull it back faster than starting again.
- What that does
- It will taste drier, and the base and any bitter or herbal notes come forward from behind the sugar.
- The trade-off
- Sugar carries body as well as sweetness, so you lose a little weight along with it.
It tastes weak
- Likely cause
- Usually dilution rather than measurement: ice adds water as it chills the drink, and wet or small ice adds far more of it than cold, large ice does.
- What to change
- Use larger, colder ice and work faster. Adding more spirit fixes the symptom and unbalances everything else.
- What that does
- The drink gains definition without gaining sugar.
- The trade-off
- It will also read as slightly sharper, which is what 'more presence' usually means in practice — not everyone wants that.
It's watery
- Likely cause
- Shaking adds water while it chills, and the two cannot be separated. Wet ice from a freezer door, or small cubes, will over-dilute before the drink is properly cold.
- What to change
- Use bigger, drier, colder ice and stop sooner. Chilling the glass first buys you time you would otherwise spend diluting.
- What that does
- More flavour concentration at the same temperature.
- The trade-off
- Under-dilute instead and the drink will taste harsh — the aim is the right amount of water, not the least.
It isn't cold enough
- Likely cause
- Served without ice, this drink is at its coldest the moment it leaves the shaker and warms from the first sip. A room-temperature glass takes a surprising amount of that cold straight back out.
- What to change
- Chill the coupe glass first — ten minutes in the freezer, or filled with ice and water while you mix — and strain the moment you stop shaking.
- What that does
- The drink stays in its best range for longer, and the first sip tastes the way it was balanced.
- The trade-off
- Very cold drinks smell of less, because aroma needs some warmth to leave the glass. A smaller serve that is finished cold beats a bigger one that is finished warm.
It doesn't smell of anything
- Likely cause
- The aroma you are missing is probably baking spice, which sits above the drink rather than in it — skipping or under-expressing the garnish removes it entirely.
- What to change
- Express the peel over the surface with the skin facing the drink, then drop it in. Herbs go in the glass, not on the side.
- What that does
- Aroma arrives before flavour does, so the whole drink reads as more intense without a single measure changing.
- The trade-off
- The oil does land in the drink, though — an over-expressed peel adds a faint bitterness to the first mouthful.
It tastes one-dimensional
- Likely cause
- With 3 components there is nowhere for complexity to hide — a drink this simple is exposed by design, so a dull one is usually a dull ingredient rather than a missing step.
- What to change
- Change the quality of what is there before adding anything new: a better base bottle, a dash of bitters. Bitters add layers at a scale nothing else matches.
- What that does
- More going on at the same strength and sweetness.
- The trade-off
- Adding a whole extra ingredient instead usually produces a muddier drink rather than a deeper one — and a better bottle costs more.
The garnish is all I can taste
- Likely cause
- The freshly grated nutmeg sits right under your nose, so it arrives before the drink does. Ground spice is very concentrated, and a heavy grating coats the whole surface.
- What to change
- Grate once or twice, from a height, over half the surface rather than all of it.
- What that does
- The garnish frames the drink rather than replacing it.
- The trade-off
- Too little and the drink loses its first impression — the garnish is doing a real aromatic job here, so ease off rather than leave it out.
Each drink comes out different
- Likely cause
- With 3 measured components, a few millilitres' drift in each adds up, and a shaker loaded for four chills and dilutes differently from one made for one.
- What to change
- Measure every pour with a jigger, and shake no more than two drinks at a time. Pre-mix tawny port, Cognac in a bottle beforehand so each round starts from the same base.
- What that does
- The fifth drink of the evening tastes like the first, at the same strength and balance.
- The trade-off
- Smaller batches mean more rounds of shaking or stirring; pre-mixing saves time but only for what keeps.
Something else wrong? Open this drink in the Recipe Doctor.
Taste profile
- Sweetness
- 3/5
- Sourness
- 0/5
- Bitterness
- 0/5
- Strength
- 2/5
- Fruitiness
- 2/5
- Freshness
- 0/5
- Creaminess
- 4/5
- Smokiness
- 0/5
Nutrition & alcohol
Estimate only- Calories
- 155 kcal
- Sugar
- 5 g
- Carbohydrates
- 6 g
- Alcohol units (UK)
- 1.5
- US standard drinks
- 0.84
- ABV
- 15.6%
- Serving size
- 95 ml
Show calculation assumptions
Source: Calculated from standard measures
Calorie breakdown: ~82 kcal from alcohol, ~73 kcal from sugar and mixers.
Likely range: 116–194 kcal, reflecting the confidence level above — not a lab-measured figure.
Assumes tawny port at 20% ABV with about 10g sugar per 100ml, cognac at 40%, one medium egg yolk and about 25% dilution from shaking.
These figures are estimates, not laboratory measurements — individual tolerance to alcohol varies. See our responsible drinking guidance.
Variations
Whole-egg flip
Use a whole small egg for a lighter, frothier drink.
What kind of drink this is
The structure behind the recipe
A shaken build: a spirit and modifier liqueur-led-based drink, served straight up, no ice — light and lively in the mouth.
Spirit and modifier
Spirit combined with an aromatised or flavoured modifier and little else — concentrated, and served small for exactly that reason.
Base
Tawny port
Modifier
Cognac
Texture
Egg yolk
Technique
shaken
Ice is thrown against the liquid and against itself, chipping fragments off and driving air through the mix. Chilling, dilution and aeration all happen at once and cannot be separated.
A lighter, briefly frothy body and a cloudy appearance that settles as it stands. The aeration blunts alcoholic heat, which is why a shaken drink tastes softer than a stirred one of the same strength.
What it ruins: Clarity, and any carbonation. A shaken spirits-only drink arrives cloudy with ice shards floating in it, and shaking anything fizzy is the one rule with no exceptions.
Everything about shaking →How the technique works →Dilution
During mixing, then strained
Water from ice typically makes up around 30% of the finished drink for a shaken build (commonly 25–35%). Dilution is an ingredient here, not a side effect.
Why dilution is an ingredient →Served
Straight up, no ice
Coupe glass · 95ml
Chilled during mixing and then strained away from the ice, so it arrives at its coldest and most concentrated and warms from the first sip — which is why 95ml is the right size for it.
Texture and aroma
Shaking whips air through the drink, giving a lighter, briefly frothy body that settles as it stands.
No dedicated aromatic component — what you smell is the spirit itself, which is a deliberate choice in a drink this spare.
Where to go from here
Each of these is here because of something specific about this drink, not as a standard set of links.
Where it comes from
Origin and family
Origin of the Porto Flip
Flips — originally hot drinks of beer, spirit and sugar — took their modern, cold, egg-thickened form in the nineteenth century; port versions appear in bar books of the period. The IBA's Porto Flip is the standardised form.
The IBA uses 45ml tawny port, 15ml brandy and 10ml egg yolk. This uses a whole medium yolk for a fuller texture.
On drinks history
Cocktail origin stories are frequently repeated and rarely evidenced. Our history section separates what is documented from what is folklore rather than picking whichever version reads best.
History and culture →Try this next
- Coffee FlipCoffee Flip
You may like this because it shares a creamy-forward profile with the Porto Flip, but uses brandy instead of liqueur-led.
- Golden CadillacGolden Cadillac
You may like this because it shares a sweet taste profile with the Porto Flip.
GrasshopperYou may like this because it shares a sweet taste profile with the Porto Flip.
Use up your ingredients
Bought a bottle just for this? Here's what else it's good for.
Related tools
Scale this for a party
Work out bottles, mixers, ice and total alcohol units for any number of guests.
How far a bottle goes
Drinks per bottle, which bottle runs out first, batching — and the cost, at your own prices.
Recipe confidence
The structure is well documented; no single original recipe exists.