23 Oct Drink(s) of the Week: The Last Word(s)
Drink(s) of the Week: The Last Word(s)
We’ve mentioned the concept of variation on a theme as one solid way of creating a cocktail. Cocktails are very seldom created from a blank slate; instead you start with a known quantity, and tweak until you find something new and great. Our Drink of the Week illustrates this idea in a couple of delicious ways. First, while I have no way of proving it, the basic pattern for our drink, The Last Word, seems very much to me like a Negroni variant. A Negroni is 3 liquor ingredients in equal parts; a Last Word is 4 ingredients in equal parts, 3 liquors plus a juice–basically a Negroni with juice. Secondly, whether it’s a Negroni variant or not, the Last Word definitely inspires many variations of its own. We’ll mention a few of them.
Before we get to the recipe, let me apologize. We try, as often as possible, to give you recipes that could be made with our eight standard bottles plus a #9, but this week’s recipe requires two #9s–I guess that makes it a 9 and a 10. The good news is that this particular 9 and 10,Chartreuse and Luxardo Maraschino, have a wonderful interplay with one another; plus, with all of the variations, you can choose your favorite spirit to add into the mix.
The Last Word
Ingredients
- .75 oz gin
- .75 oz green Chartreuse
- .75 oz Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
- .75 oz lime juice
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass.
- Add ice and stir gently about 40 times.
- Serve
Variants
Ultima Palabra
- Replace gin with Tequila
Final Ward
created by Philip Ward of New York’s Pegu Club
- Replace gin with rye
- Replace lime juice with lemon juice
Paper Plane
created by Sam Ross
- Replace gin with Bourbon
- Replace Chartreuse with Amaro Nonino
- Replace maraschino liqueur with Aperol
- Replace lime juice with lemon
If none of these hits the mark for you, there are others. Or try your own: 1 part base spirit, 2 parts liqueur, 1 part citrus juice. Have fun!
