Rudyard Kipling and the Pegu Club Cocktail.

In 1889, a young Rudyard Kipling arrived in Rangoon, Burma – now Yangon, Myanmar – on a whistle-stop tour through the East. He spent only a few hours at the fabled Pegu Club, a teakwood sanctuary reserved for British officers and expatriates, but the experience left an impression. In his travel writings, Kipling dubbed it a place “where the world ends,” capturing the surreal blend of imperial bravado and tropical languor that hung heavy in the air like the punkah fans above. With gin in hand and sweat on brow, the colonials held court in their grand teak-lined fortress, seemingly untouched by the land just beyond its verandas.

Though Kipling never sipped the cocktail that would later take the club’s name, the Pegu Club Cocktail – a crisp, citrusy mix of gin, orange curaçao, lime, and bitters – was born in its wake. The drink became a symbol of that far-flung corner of the Empire, where ice clinked in decorative, coupette glasses. Today, the original club building still stands in faded grandeur, and Kipling’s brief visit continues to lend it a literary afterglow.