Last Word, Pre-Prohibition Era Cocktail With 108 Years History

For the aficionados of cocktails, the legendary drink Last Word often appears as a preferred choice. However, the moment you wear the logical hat and ponder the ingredients in this boozy concoction, it seems like it won't work. Last Word cocktail is a blend of an equal amount of gin, Maraschino liqueur, Green Chartreuse, and fresh lime juice. Such mix-match looks overwhelming, as if the boozy concoction is churned by randomly picked bottles from the bar shelves. But when you sample it, you realise that these ingredients were made for each other. Sipping the Last Word can change your nature forever if you scrutinise and judge everything without even experiencing it. Moreover, you are bound to develop a taste for it when served with its interesting history.

Also Read: The Gimlet: How This Gin Cocktail Saved Sailors From Scurvy

What does the Last Word taste like?

People who haven't sampled the Last Word cocktail often inquire about its taste. The alcoholic beverage's flavours are pretty balanced. The recipe only calls for four ingredients. This drink has a rich undertone of subtle botanical bitterness and tastes of ripe cherries, and it is simultaneously refreshingly sharp and gently sweet.

Last Word's origin and inventor

The Last Word is one of the most popular Prohibition-era cocktails in the cocktail repertoire. Last Word's origin can be traced back to the Circa's Detroit Athletic Club's bar in 1915. This is where it debuted as a heady drink. It was created right before Prohibition took effect. It is claimed to have been churned by Frank Fogarty. But wait, although he was one of the most well-known vaudevillian monologists of his time, Fogarty was not a bartender. Today's stand-up comedian is a better way to characterise his line of work. Some believe that this vocation inspired the cocktail's name. Frank, commonly referred to as the "Dublin Minstrel," and his popularity as a vaudeville artist helped Last Word transcend Detroit Athletic Club and spread further and become an instant hit. 

The classic Last Word cocktail, Image Source: spiritsbeacon.com

The Last Word cocktail features Green Chartreuse, a legend in its own right. It is a liquor produced in France by Carthusian monks. Lore has it that it has 130 different herbs added to it, lending it a potent medicinal punch. According to liquor legends, Last Word was a play on a Gimlet or a classic sour, blended with flowery Chartreuse to cover up the foul taste of bathtub gin. 

From rising to fame, getting lost to resurging with a bang

The citrusy cocktail thrived for a few decades in America's taverns and pubs. Its popularity kept rising to the extent of being highlighted in Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up in 1951. Sadly, it began to fade towards the latter half of the century and was relegated to a forsaken nook. Last Word was a resilient soul and was adamant about not breathing its last breath. 

Pouring Last Word in a glass, Image Source: thehobbydrinkchef@Instagram

The rockstar saw a resurgence in 2004-2005. In search of something exciting, Murray Stenson, a worker at the Zig Zag Café in Seattle, was reading Saucier's book when he encountered The Last Word. It was quickly a hit after he introduced it to the menu, spreading to New York City, where the Pegu Club helped it gain widespread fame.

Adaption to Last Word's original recipe

The Last Word has been adapted by innovative bartenders who gave it several tweaks. Paper Plane is a generous interpretation of the original cocktail with bourbon introduced by NYC bartender Sam Ross in 2008. The basic formula is more closely followed in other versions, which substitute gin for a different base liquor. A savoury, earthy variant is made using mezcal, and a light, grassy one with rhum agricole. The Final Ward, a version innovated by New York bartender Phil Ward, is among the most renowned. Phil used rye whisky for the gin and lemon juice for the lime juice. In her MSNBC show on May 20, 2011, Rachel Maddow detailed how to make the cocktail and alluded to it as the "last word for the end of the world."

So when will you sip the nearly 108-year-old Last Word cocktail? The green goddess is waiting to enamour you!