- 25mL gin
- 25mL green Chartreuse
- 25mL maraschino liqueur
- 25mL lime juice
Shake over ice, and serve in a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel (or peel, or whatever else really).
I know many of my friends in America spent most of last week waiting for the Last Word. Really, I suppose the whole world was waiting for it. And yet, it was four simple ingredients away the whole time. Perhaps it’s not the exact last word being sought, but some good booze definitely helped pass the time as we waited for the results of the U.S. Presidential Election.
Over the last year or so, this has become one of my favorite drinks. Bitter spice from the Chartreuse, a fruity sweetness from the maraschino liqueur, nice chill sour notes from the lime, and a solid kick of gin to hold it all together makes for quite the flavor combination on the palate. It’s plenty boozy and will definitely help distract you while waiting for those pesky election results.
And the last shall become first! This recipe serves as an excellent starting point for all sorts of variation. Just by swapping the base spirit out, you can have lots of fun. Use mezcal instead of gin, and you’ve got whole new flavors to contend with. With some rum, it’s practically a tiki drink. Use rye instead of gin and lemon instead of lime and you have yourself the Final Ward, a Phil Ward/Death & Co. favorite.
But don’t stop there! You can swap in other sweet or bitter liqueurs in place of the maraschino or Chartreuse. With either of those, an endless supply of flavor combinations are available.
The Last Word is one of those classics that’s been around forever, one of several delectable Prohibition-era concoctions. But unlike so many others, this one doesn’t originate in New York or come from abroad. According to Ted Saucier’s 1951 Bottom’s Up, this drink gets its start at the Detroit Athletic Club and only later finds its way to the larger cocktail world.
Like many Prohibition and pre-Prohibition cocktails, this one was all but forgotten until it was rediscovered in 2004 around the beginning of our current cocktail golden age. It is thanks to Murray Stenson of the Zig Zag Cafe in Seattle that the Last Word has found its way back to cocktail menus around the world. And are we ever glad that he found it.
For extra entertainment as you shake up your own Last Word at home, here’s Rachel Maddow making one for herself back in 2011.