Hi there. First, I'll give a disclaimer (and a plug). I have been obsessed with this cocktail for going on nine years now. I even recently started a blog about Pegus (The Pegu Blog), if only just to prove that there needs to be a blog about everything under the Sun.... So take my opinions for what they are, mine, but I will perhaps shamefacedly remind you that I've been drinking from 2 to 5 of these treats a week for a LONG time now. Anyway, I think the Gin and the Curacao are both important. I use Cointreau, both because I use it in almost every cocktail I make, whether it calls for it or no, and because every time I let a bartender use something different, I simply don't enjoy the outcome. I have experimented with lots of gins, and I wholeheartedly recommend Bombay Sapphire as the best for Pegus. I'm am not in the same league as most gin experts out there, having limited most of my experimentation with it to how it affects the taste of a Pegu, but I think you need a more complex gin like Sapphire to makes a Pegu interesting. And most other more expensive gins I've tried gave it enough complexity, but were not subtle enough. I think Sapphire gives the right blend of exotic and mellow. Also, earlier in the thread, someone mentioned a teaspoon of egg white. While laziness prevents me from doing this all the time, when I want to make a really good Pegu, I add the egg white and shake even harder. When I went to the American Bar at the Savoy in London, Peter Dorelli mixed me several this way, and I've preferred Pegus this way ever since. He didn't want to tell me what he added beyond the way I asked for it (essentially, Paul Harrington's variant, 3:1:1), but I pushed. I think he expected this crazy American asking for a Pegu to freak about raw eggs. Anyway, try the egg white. You won't regret it. Doug Winship