Last Word
Four ingredients, equal parts, nowhere to hide. It’s the drink bartenders reach for to prove that balance beats complexity — herbal, sour, a little medicinal, and somehow it all works.
It nearly disappeared twice before becoming the template for a whole generation of riffs. Make it once and you’ll see why every bar that rediscovers it puts it straight back on the menu.
Last Word
Coupe · None
Ingredients
- ¾ ozLondon Dry Gin
- ¾ ozGreen Chartreuse
- ¾ ozMaraschino Liqueur
- ¾ ozFresh lime juice
Method
- 1Combine gin, Green Chartreuse, Maraschino liqueur, and fresh lime juice in a shaker.
- 2Add ice and shake hard for 12 seconds.
- 3Double-strain into a chilled coupe.
History
Originally from the Detroit Athletic Club circa 1915, the Last Word languished in obscurity for decades after Prohibition. Its revival is credited to Murray Stenson, who found it in Ted Saucier's *Bottoms Up* (1951) and added it to the menu at Zig Zag Café in Seattle around 2003, igniting a nationwide rediscovery of pre-Prohibition cocktails. As Jim Meehan notes in *The PDT Cocktail Book*, few drinks better exemplify how the equal-parts formula can achieve perfect balance from seemingly incompatible ingredients.
Green Chartreuse is the dominant flavor here — there is no substitute, and a light gin will disappear behind it. Use a London dry with backbone: Tanqueray or Beefeater. Fresh lime juice is essential; bottled lime turns a harmonious balance into a flat disappointment.
