Cocktail Hour - 2020

[MM818]

I think it’s dangerous business posting on a bourbon forum a gin cocktail after a 116 proof old fashioned. But I feel like we’ve had enough events for the week. The last word. 

[flahute]

54 minutes ago, MM818 said:

I think it’s dangerous business posting on a bourbon forum a gin cocktail after a 116 proof old fashioned. But I feel like we’ve had enough events for the week. The last word. 

Gin cocktails are welcome here!

Post the ingredients!

[MM818]

Lol. Equal parts gin, green chartreuse, luxardo, and lime juice. 
 

if the zig zag in pike place is still open I’m pretty sure they invented it. Well, if they reopen, I guess. 

[flahute]

14 hours ago, MM818 said:

Lol. Equal parts gin, green chartreuse, luxardo, and lime juice. 
 

if the zig zag in pike place is still open I’m pretty sure they invented it. Well, if they reopen, I guess. 

Ahhhh! You posted about a similar cocktail a while back called the Final Ward that uses rye and lemon juice instead of gin and lime. That one is great. This one sounds really good as well.

 

Zig Zag is great. Not sure what their current status is.

 

[smokinjoe]

On 1/8/2021 at 10:30 PM, MM818 said:

I think it’s dangerous business posting on a bourbon forum a gin cocktail after a 116 proof old fashioned. But I feel like we’ve had enough events for the week. The last word. 

I dig this!  

[flahute]

Back on the keto diet for the month of January so the cocktail options are limited. The Vesper works nicely during this time.

[Harry in WashDC]

On 1/8/2021 at 11:48 PM, MM818 said:

Lol. Equal parts gin, green chartreuse, luxardo, and lime juice. 
 

if the zig zag in pike place is still open I’m pretty sure they invented it. Well, if they reopen, I guess. 

We've tried several versions of this. The equal parts works best, and Luxardo is REQUIRED - trying to use some other cherry liqueur just makes it "off".  Also, London Dry or even Plymouth gin is ok, but some of the fancier ones will not.  Ransom Old Tom out of Oregon is our fave for this, but we can't always get it.

 

Here's what Wiki lists under "History" for the "Last Word (cocktail)" (quoting):  "The first publication in which the Last Word appeared was Ted Saucier's 1951 cocktail book Bottoms Up!. In it Saucier states that the cocktail was first served around 30 years earlier at the Detroit Athletic Club and later introduced in New York by Frank Fogarty.^{[fns omitted]} Since this dates the creation of the drink to the first years of the prohibition (1919-1933), it is usually considered a prohibition era drink. A research in the archives of the Detroit Athletic Club by John Frizell revealed later that the drink was slightly older predating the prohibition era by a few years. It was already offered on the club's 1916 menu for a price of 35 cents (about $8.22 in 2019 currency) making it the club's most expensive cocktail at the time. ^{(fn omitted)}"

The Virginia ABC magazine for April/May/June 2016 (yeah, my wife's an anal retentive and kept the mag - SO WHAT!!  She keeps me from running amok) also featured TLW and says the Detroit Athletic Club created it pre-prohibition and that "it was revived nearly a century later" but doesn't say who revived it.

 

 

It's on our list of Happy Hour cocktails to have in the next week or so which is how come I have all this info at hand - coincidence??????

[MM818]

1 hour ago, Harry in WashDC said:

that "it was revived nearly a century later" but doesn't say who revived it.

I misspoke. Thanks for the clarification. I believe it was revived in Seattle in the mid 2000’s. 
 

Its an excellent cocktail. You can also sub the gin for mezcal. And then the Final Ward with rye and lemon juice. 

[flahute]

11 minutes ago, MM818 said:

I misspoke. Thanks for the clarification. I believe it was revived in Seattle in the mid 2000’s. 
 

Its an excellent cocktail. You can also sub the gin for mezcal. And then the Final Ward with rye and lemon juice. 

I would not be surprised at all if it was revived at Zig Zag in the mid 2000's because the bartender there at that time is legendary.

His name is Murray Stenson and he was named Best Bartender in America, by his peers none the less, in 2010. Unearthing a pre prohibition cocktail recipe is exactly the kind of thing he would do.

 

As I am on keto for the next month I can't try this but it is very much on deck for February! 

[MM818]

8 minutes ago, flahute said:

I would not be surprised at all if it was revived at Zig Zag in the mid 2000's because the bartender there at that time is legendary.

His name is Murray Stenson and he was named Best Bartender in America, by his peers none the less, in 2010. Unearthing a pre prohibition cocktail recipe is exactly the kind of thing he would do.

I believe this is correct. I worked in the Washington Mutual Tower on 3rd & Union from 2000 to 2007.  While I wasn’t drinking for happy hour at the Brooklyn I would hit the Zig Zag periodically. This was when I was first starting out and couldn’t afford the Zig Zag on a regular basis. (Even in my early 20s I knew a good cocktail). 
 

Later in the decade I frequented Tavern Law and Canon on Capitol Hill. Canon seemed to be getting all the publicity at that time. 

[Harry in WashDC]

THX, you two.  I'm going to make notes on our recipe card.

[smokinjoe]

22 minutes ago, Respectfully said:

This cocktail hour is devoted to Winston Churchill martinis. 
 

Recipe:

Pour several seconds of gin into a glass followed by glancing out of the corner of your eye at the vermouth bottle across the room.

Ha!  I heard a similar story that when Churchill would make his martini, he’d fill the glass with gin, then offer a brief nod and slightly raised glass  across the channel towards France.