By Jasmine Kaur
As interesting as the name sounds, it is said that the Last word belongs to the pre-Prohibition era of cocktails in the early 20th century.
The name was accorded to a heady drink made with Maraschino liqueur, gin, green Chartreuse and lime juice that lends it a balanced flavour of sharpness, sweetness and bitterness.
It is believed that not a bartender, but a vaudeville artist named Frank Fogarty created this iconic cocktail at Circa’s Detroit Athletic Club’s bar in 1915 and then spread it worldwide.
It rose in popularity in American pubs until the latter half of the 20th century when it saw a major dip. However, the early 21st century saw resurgence through its introduction at Zig Zag café, Seattle and later, NYC.
The Green Chartreuse continues to be the star ingredient of the cocktail as the liquor is made with 130 different herbs by Carthusian monks from France, an interesting take on Gimlet.
Today, you will find Phil Ward’s Final word which uses rye whisky or Sam Ross’ Paper Plane, which has bourbon instead. Many bartenders across NYC have come up with their variations.