The Last Word – Or is it?

Ok, I’ll admit the tag line on this wrap up post is a little lame, but I couldn’t think of anything better and it certainly won’t be the last words I speak of this cocktail so it is kinda fitting.  In that odd, play on words, sort of way.  I really enjoyed this week’s cocktail.  The recipe that I found nearly everywhere I looked (equal parts of Gin, Green Chartreuse, Maraschino and Lime Juice) was quite tasty albeit a bit too sweet for my palate.  The Chartreuse gives it a very nice herbal background while the lime juice keeps it citrusy.

I opted for Plymouth gin when mixing this week and although that certainly wasn’t a bad choice I feel that the stronger flavors overwhelmed this lighter gin.  Going forward I’d mix this with a gin with slightly more backbone, like Junipero.  To attempt to correct the over sweet flavor I took the advice of Michael Dietsch from A Dash of Bitters and altered the recipe slightly by increasing the gin and decreasing the maraschino.  This resulted in a cocktail that was even more pleasant.

The maraschino flavor was decreased, which was nice in that it allowed the herbal notes of the Chartreuse to come through even more.  As was expected the sweetness decreased, but be aware, this is still a fairly sweet cocktail.  This is definitely my prefered recipe.  I considered tinkering more, but felt that any more changes would result in a new cocktail entirely.

The Last Word (A Dash of Bitters)

1 1/4 oz Gin
1 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz Maraschino