I'm not usually that into cocktails. It should probably be obvious by now my preference with liquor is whiskey, as it comes. But, with that said, I'm not opposed to cocktails either, especially if preparing them for others. Playing bartender is fun. One hesitation, and difficulty I guess, is the wide variety of bottles required to make a wide variety of drinks. I'm talking mostly about all the different cordials and whatever else of which only like a teaspoon goes into a drink, but they cost $20, $30, $40 or more a bottle sometimes. The extra stuff on hand, some with short shelf lives, and the extra cost has frequently been a reason to not purchase those speciality items.
One of my friends is a lot more into cocktails than I am and he always has that fun stuff to make them. Over the last few years he's encouraged me to get one fancy liqueur bottle in particular, called Chartreuse. It wasn't until finding an interesting recipe recently (perusing for ideas my wife might like) that I suddenly had the urge to actually go get it. Cocktails are, for whatever reason, a little more fun in wintertime and we're in the depths of it now.
I might as well describe Chartreuse. I hadn't heard of it except from my friend and most of you reading this likely haven't either. Chartreuse is a herbal liqueur made by monks at the Grande Chartreuse monastery, in the mountains north of Grenoble in southeast France. It's been made since 1737 using instructions that date to 1605. The process involves aging (steeping?) a distilled wine alcohol with 130 different herbs, spices and plants. The full recipe is a closely guarded secret. Since 1840 they've made two varieties, Green and Yellow, which match the intensely naturally colored liquids. Green is a little bolder and higher proof (110/55%) and yellow is milder and lower (86/43%). But I've also heard they taste quite different and are not interchangeable, as we probably should've assumed from the colors.
Finding Chartreuse turned out to be a little difficult. Two smaller liquor stores I visited didn't have it and seemingly hadn't for a while either. I ended up grabbing the only bottle to be seen, a Green, at Total Wine. There was a limit one per customer sign but there was also only the one on the shelf so I didn't hesitate, even though it was $45. I also needed a bottle of Marashino liqueur, something else I hadn't purchased before. Up to this point I (rather ignorantly) assumed cherry liqueurs were all alike. But on looking at the bottles of Marashino, which are clear, I immediately saw it wasn't much like Cherry Heering, a sweet and deeply red cherry liqueur with which I'm more familiar. With some help from an employee I picked a bottle ($20), and then grabbed some Rittenhouse Rye ($25), a cheap and great whiskey, before checking out and heading home.
The recipe I found is a classic Prohibition-era cocktail called 'Last Word.' We struggle to describe its deliciousness but agreed it's both refreshing and yet has some heft behind it. Use interesting quality ingredients, get interesting quality drinks. Here's how to make it.
Last Word:
Equal parts (~1oz is ideal)
- Gin
- Green Chartreuse
- Marashino liqueur
- Lime juice
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker half filled with ice and shake for 10-15 seconds. Strain into an empty glass. Serve/drink.
Neither of us used to be much of a fan of gin. But my wife is also a fan of Ryan Reynolds and we gave his brand a try a while back. It was a hit, largely because it's not super piny. So Aviation (~$30 or less for 750ml) is what we have in the house, if we have any gin at all.
I also wanted to try a whiskey version. There's one called 'Final Ward' and it's almost a straight substitution, or at least that's how I'm going to make it. Since this uses lemon juice it's akin to a whiskey sour, but is much more complex. This is where I used the Rittenhouse Rye btw, which is excellent in cocktails.
Final Ward:
Equal parts (~1oz is ideal)
- Rye whiskey
- Green Chartreuse
- Marashino liqueur
- Lemon juice
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker half filled with ice and shake for 10-15 seconds. Strain into an empty glass. Serve/drink.
So far I've made these a couple times and we're big fans, hence the blog post to save the idea (and provide the recipes for my wife). To be honest I don't know which of the two I like more, a real surprise as I never drink gin. Chartreuse, with its completely unique medicinal qualities, is truly what makes them shine in both flavor and style (that color!). I have to note my appreciation of the simplicity, a neat aspect from Prohibition times, of equal parts and a short ingredient list, and also a limited amount of sugar/juice. For once I'm more than happy to have a couple specialty mixers. In short, these cocktails are easy, tasty and fun.
If these sound of interest (and this is physically possible for you), come over sometime and I'd be happy to serve one. Cheers!
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