Chartreuse Swizzle

It's January, and you know what that means - it's time to Tiki the Snow Away! This midwinter celebration of all things Tiki was started by Dani DeLuca and Nic Titze. Living in Boston, it's usually a welcome escape from the cold and snow for me. This year is a bit odd - no snow to Tiki away and temperatures in the 40's. It's practically tropical.

If you missed my overview of the Tiki movement and its history last year, check it out. Tiki is all about kitsch and fun and crazy garnishes. It doesn't take itself too seriously. But you'd never be able to tell that given the cocktail recipes it has produced - elaborate, delicious constructions of juices and rums and spices. If you're interested in getting started making your own Tiki cocktails at home, definitely check out Martin Cate's book Smuggler's Cove.

Smuggler's Cove was where I found this recipe for the Chartreuse Swizzle, and I'm so glad I did. With no rum in sight, it's not a traditional Tiki cocktail, but it is a take on a very Tiki sort of drink, the swizzle. Swizzles are built in their tall glasses with crushed ice and traditionally mixed using a swizzle stick - not a little plastic thing like the one in these photos, but an actual branch from the aptly-named Swizzlestick Tree. The stick is rubbed between your palms, kind of like you're a Boy Scout trying to start a fire. The prongs at the bottom spin and mix the drink to frosty perfection. If you don't have a real swizzle stick (I don't), then a barspoon will do.

The Chartreuse Swizzle showcases everyone's favorite liqueur, Green Chartreuse. Mixed with lime, pineapple, and some Velvet Falernum, it's a bright and herbaceous, a perfect canvas for this unique spirit and a real standout among Tiki cocktails.

History: The Chartreuse Swizzle was created by Marcovaldo Dionysos of Smuggler's Cove itself in the early 2000's. It has since become one of the "new classics" of the cocktail world.

Chartreuse Swizzle

1.5 oz. Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz. Velvet Falernum
1 oz. pineapple juice
3/4 lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a tall glass and fill it with crushed ice until it is about 3/4 full. Insert a barspoon or swizzle stick and swizzle until the drink is chilled and the glass is frosty. Top with additional crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig and grated nutmeg.

Recipe from Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki.

Last Laugh

Happy New Year! How did you ring in 2019? I hope there was lots of champagne involved. New Year's is my favorite excuse for sparkling cocktails. I'm always looking for new ones to try. One thing I've seen on Instagram lately is sparkling versions of classics like the Aviation or the Cosmopolitan. Which got my wondering if adding a little champagne to a Last Word would work. Lo and behold, not only does it work, someone else already thought of it, and the drink is called the Last Laugh (because the bubbles tickle, obviously).

The Last Word, in case you don't remember, is a beloved drink made with equal parts gin, Green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice. It's a combination that yields a truly unique flavor. I love to introduce people to this drink if they've never had one before. I have yet for someone to tell me they don't like it. And while a couple of the ingredients are a bit obscure for the average home bar, the equal-parts recipe makes it extremely easy to make once you have them.

In general I don't advise just adding champagne to any cocktail and assuming it will taste right, but in this case that's exactly what you do, and it tastes fantastic. It's the perfect way to make this crowd-pleasing cocktail even more festive.

History: The Last Laugh was created by bartender Abigail Gullo of SoBou and then Compère Lapin in New Orleans.

Last Laugh

3/4 oz. gin
3/4 oz. Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz. Luxardo maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz. lime juice
Sparkling wine, to top

Combine all ingredients except sparkling wine in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a champagne flute or large coupe and top with champagne. Garnish with a brandied cherry, as I did, or a lime twist, as Gullo recommends.

Recipe adapted from Punch.

Bijou

I've got a real classic for you today - the Bijou. It may not show up on a lot of menus these days, but this elegant gin cocktail is over 100 years old. The name, which means "jewel" in French, is a reference to the gemlike hues of the three main ingredients: gin (diamond), sweet vermouth (ruby), and Green Chartreuse (emerald). The traditional recipe for the Bijou is equal parts of these three ingredients, plus a dash of orange bitters.

I eagerly mixed up this equal-parts cocktail, but when I took a sip, I grimaced. The Chartreuse completely dominated the gin and vermouth, making it way too sweet and not at all balanced, at least to my taste. I immediately understood why a lot of modern recipes for the Bijou, like these from Punch and Tuxedo No. 2, tweak the recipe a bit. I tried some variations and decided that this one from Imbibe is my favorite, with more gin, less Chartreuse, and two dashes of bitters. With these proportions, I think the cocktail really takes on the elegant, herbal flavor it's meant to have.

History: The first recipe for the Bijou that appeared in print, in C. F. Lawlor's 1895 book The Mixicologist, was a bit different from the version that ended up standing the test of time. Lawlor's recipe is equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Grand Marnier, an orange liqueur that probably wouldn't have helped much with the issue of balance and sweetness. Five years later, the equal-parts-plus-orange-bitters version of the recipe appeared in Harry Johnson's Bartenders' Manual. As far as I know, these are our only two clues about the origins of the Bijou.

Bijou

1 1/2 oz. gin
1 oz. sweet vermouth
3/4 oz. Green Chartreuse
2 dashes orange bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a brandied cherry and a lemon twist.

Recipe adapted from The New Cocktail Hour via Imbibe.

Green Thumb

Lately I've been getting a lot of practice at inventing new cocktail recipes. It's not actually something I do a lot - when I come home at the end of the day, I tend to prefer to flip open a recipe book or turn to an old favorite. But between Mixology Monday, Instagram challenges, and collaborations with different brands, it feels like I've been coming up with new recipes left and right.

Getting inspiration for a new cocktail is kind of critical. If I just go stare at my bar and think "I should make something new," I'll never come up with anything. But a name, a theme, or an ingredient is often enough to get me moving. A focal ingredient is one of my favorite ways to start a cocktail. It's easy to taste it and think about what other things might work with it.



When I got this sampler pack of Black Cloud Bitters a couple of weeks ago, the wheels really started turning. The flavors were so inspiring, and I've almost come up with a new cocktail for all five. I already posted the Ginger Sage Smash with the Black & Blue Bitters last week. This week I decided to work with the Garden Party Bitters. These have strong flavors of cucumber and celery, along with lots of herbs and botanicals. They are distinctly savory, which I knew would be interesting in a cocktail.

I felt like the cucumber and celery in the Garden Party Bitters basically begged to be paired with gin. I decided to try and bring out their  herbaceous, vegetal quality with some muddled cucumber and Green Chartreuse, which fit perfectly in color and taste. Lime juice and simple syrup rounded it all out. The Green Thumb was one of those cocktails that basically made itself. It's sweet and citrusy at first, basically like a cucumber Gimlet, and then you taste the Chartreuse and the bitters at the end of your sip. That savory bitterness just makes it.

If you'd like to pick up your own sampler pack of Black Cloud Bitters, head over to Muddle & Stir and use the code MS10GB for 10% off and free shipping!

Green Thumb

1 1/2 oz. gin
1/4 oz. Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz. lime juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup
1 dropper Black Cloud Garden Party bitters
3 slices cucumber

Combine cucumber and simple syrup in the bottom of a shaker and muddle well. Add gin, Green Chartreuse, lime juice, and bitters. Fill shaker with ice and shake until well chilled. Double-strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a cucumber rose and a mint leaf.

Flushing - Main Street

As I mentioned in my post about Crème de Cacao, the Flushing - Main Street from Tiger Mama was the cocktail that made me decide I needed to buy a bottle. I'd never seen chocolate liqueur in a cocktail with ingredients like Blanc Vermouth and Green Chartreuse, and I certainly didn't expect it to taste so good. While it is sweet, it's extremely well-balanced with nice hints of bitterness and citrus. If I didn't know there was crème de cacao in this cocktail, I'm not sure I would even guess it, but the chocolatey notes are definitely there once you look for them.

Though I did buy the crème de cacao, I had to make a couple of other substitutions in this recipe. It calls for Akasi White Oak Japanese Whiskey and Dolin Blanc vermouth, neither of which I own. For the whiskey, I subbed in a blended Scotch, and I used dry vermouth instead of blanc. I hope neither substitution is too egregious; I still find the cocktail very good. From what I've read about the flavor of the Akasi, my version is probably lighter and less smoky. There's definitely a color difference. And the dry vermouth is less sweet than the blanc, which actually suits me just fine, as this is already a pretty sweet cocktail.

History: The Flushing - Main Street comes from Tiger Mama in Boston's Fenway area. I got the recipe from Fred Yarm's blog Cocktail Virgin Slut. He says it's actually a Manhattan variation, and the name comes from a train station in Queens. The recipe was (probably) developed by Charles Coykendall, the bar manager at Tiger Mama. Here's a brief interview with him about his work there.

Flushing - Main Street

2 oz. Akashi White Oak Japanese Whiskey (I used blended Scotch)
1/2 oz. Dolin Blanc Vermouth (I used Dolin Dry)
1/4 oz. Green Chartreuse
1/4 oz. Tempus Fugit Crème de Cacao
1 dash Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a flamed lemon twist.

Recipe from Cocktail Virgin Slut.

Last of the Oaxacans

I love a good mezcal twist on a popular cocktail. The smoky agave spirit can bring out a whole new dimension in existing recipes. So when I saw this Last Word variation with mezcal and serrano pepper, I knew I had to try it. The Last Word is one of my all-time favorite cocktails. The recipe is incredibly easy to remember, too: equal parts gin, Green Chartreuse, Luxardo maraschino liqueur, and lime juice. Swap out the gin and shake in a small slice of pepper, and you get the same delicious sour-sweet-herbal flavor of a Last Word with some extra smoke and spice. Ditch the margaritas next time you have Mexican and make one of these. It's an excellent cocktail.

History: This is another great one from Nick Caruana, who writes The Straight Up. You may remember him from the Basil Cranberry Julep and the Dillionaire. The name is a play on the Last Word; Oaxaca is the Mexican province where most mezcal is made.

Last of the Oaxacans

3/4 oz. mezcal
3/4 oz. Luxardo maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz. Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz. lime juice
1 half-centimeter slice serrano pepper

Combine all ingredients, including the pepper slice, in a shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Double-strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of serrano pepper.

Recipe from Serious Eats.

Lawn Dart

The description for the Lawn Dart in The PDT Cocktail Book says that its flavor mimics the aroma of freshly-cut grass. If that doesn't sound like something you'd like to drink, I suppose I understand. But you'd be missing out. One sip of this cocktail really blew me away. The flavors are really unique, but they work perfectly together. The bell pepper, a truly unique cocktail ingredient, makes a big impact. It brings out the grassy notes in the gin and tequila, and the dash of Green Chartreuse ties it all together. It does, indeed, taste like summer.

I have a beef with the recipe, though. It calls for "one 5-inch slice of bell pepper," which is not nearly descriptive enough. If we're talking about, say, cucumber, a 5-inch slice is a very clear unit of measurement; there's really only one dimension in which to cut a cucumber. But a bell pepper is more vague. What orientation is the bell pepper when you cut this slice? Do you slice all the way around the pepper? If not, how wide should the slice be?? I thought about this for way too long.

In the end, I went with a slice from the top to the bottom of the pepper (roughly the instructed five inches), about 1/4 inch wide. Maybe smaller than the recipe intends, but I didn't want to over-bell-pepper my cocktail. And I was pretty happy with the outcome.

History: This cocktail was developed by Sean Hoard at PDT in New York in 2010. He's now the manager of Teardrop in Portland.

Lawn Dart

1 oz. tequila blanco
1 oz. gin
3/4 oz. agave nectar
3/4 oz. lime juice
1/4 oz. Green Chartreuse
1 5-inch slice bell pepper

Recipe from The PDT Cocktail Book.

Verte Chaud

Winter hit hard this weekend. We lucked out in Boston; our six inches of snow felt like nothing compared to what fell in some places south of us. And the storm was even accommodating enough to hit on a weekend. With nowhere to go, we hunkered down in our apartment and watched the snow slowly collect. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

As I thought of what cold-weather drinks might be appropriate for this weather, a strange thought popped into my head: Chartreuse hot chocolate. I'm not really sure where it came from, but I know I have been to at least one bar that had this on the menu. I remember thinking that it was so odd it just might be good, and I suppose I filed it away in the recesses of my brain for a day like Saturday, when the snow was falling outside, and there was both Chartreuse and hot chocolate inside.

A quick search for any existing recipes that might fit the bill uncovered the Verte Chaud (translated far less poetically as "hot green"). It's apparently a popular "après-ski" cocktail. The concept of après-ski is not one with which I am intimately familiar; my first (and last) experience on skis ended with me running into the side of a building, and there were no cocktails involved. But I think I can get behind the idea. Après-snow-shovel, anyone?

I knew the Chartreuse-and-chocolate combination was going to be unusual, and I was a little afraid that it would result in a waste of both Chartreuse and chocolate, a true tragedy. But though it was odd at first, I liked the result. The Chartreuse comes off as very vegetal right at first. The chocolate flavor hits you in the middle of your sip, and then the herbal notes of the Chartreuse linger. It's very strong, very sweet, and will definitely warm you through-and-through, whether you've just come in off the slopes or you're holed up in your apartment watching the snow fall.

If you're not sold on the Verte Chaud yet, maybe I can cinch the deal: you can light it on fire. When building the cocktail, pour the Chartreuse into your mug and ignite it. If you're making it for guests, you can serve it like this with the hot chocolate on the side, ready to be poured in to quench the flames. In addition to being fantastically dramatic, the fire serves to warm up the mug.

As for the hot chocolate and whipped cream, you owe it to your bottle of Chartreuse to make them yourself. See below for my favorite simple recipes.

History: As far as I can tell, the Verte Chaud was invented by Jamie Boudreau, former blogger and bartender at Vessel in Seattle, currently owner of Canon. It turns out there's also a cocktail out there called the Charles de Gaulle that is essentially the same as this one, but I can't find out much about it.

Verte Chaud

2 oz. Green Chartreuse
6 oz. hot chocolate*
Whipped cream**

Pour Green Chartreuse into a mug. If desired, ignite with matches or a lighter and let burn briefly to warm the mug. Pour in the hot chocolate. Top with a dollop of whipped cream.

*For hot chocolate, combine 1/2 cup of good quality chocolate chips like Guittard or Ghirardelli with 3/4 cup milk in a saucepan. Heat on medium, stirring frequently, until chocolate chips are melted and the mixture is hot. Do not allow it to boil. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

**For whipped cream, pour 1/2 cup heavy cream or whipping cream into a bowl. Whip with an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until thickened. Add 1 tbsp. sugar and 1/2 tbsp. vanilla. Continue to mix until the cream forms soft peaks.

Recipe from Jamie Boudreau, Spirits and Cocktails.

Twin Peaks

Ever since I bought a bottle of St. George Terroir gin, I've been wanting to use it in some more cocktails. As I mentioned before, it has a very strong, piney taste, so you've got to be in the mood for it, and you've got to think carefully about what to pair it with. Lucky for me, St. George has a great list of recipes using the Terroir on their website. Unfortunately, most have at least one odd ingredient that I don't own: lavender bitters, bergamot simple syrup, fresh huckleberries... where do you get fresh huckleberries, anyway? I aspire to make them all eventually, but the Twin Peaks sounded particularly good. I thought Green Chartreuse would blend nicely with the Terroir gin, so this was the second cocktail I made once I finally bought some.

Sure enough, the Twin Peaks is a really, really nice cocktail. The combination of flavors is incredibly interesting. I was most surprised by how well they harmonized. The flavor of the Terrior is toned down a bit in comparison to the Martini I made with it last time, blending wonderfully with the Chartreuse and lime. The result is sort of an herbal Gimlet, with a sage leaf adding the final touch. This one might end up on my next list of favorite cocktails.

History: The Twin Peaks was invented by Jon Karel of Vera Pizzeria in Buffalo, New York.

Twin Peaks

1 3/4 oz. St. George Terroir gin
3/4 oz. lime juice
3/4 oz. simple syrup (original recipe called for 1 oz.)
1/4 oz. Green Chartreuse

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass filled with one large ice cube. Garnish with a sage leaf.

Recipe adapted from St. George Spirits.

Mixology Monday: Mad Scientist

This month's Mixology Monday is hosted by Rated R Cocktails, and the theme is Spooky Sips. I love it! I had several different ideas aesthetically, from a bloody dark red cocktail fit for a vampire to some sort of witches' brew using this stuff, but actually making something that would taste good was the real challenge. I decided to go with this one because it has a theme close to my heart: the Mad Scientist. It's a Daiquiri with a lemon foam on top (raw egg whites are spoooooky) and a dropper of Green Chartreuse for you to mix in yourself (or just shoot straight from the pipette, I won't judge). I really, really wanted to work in some dry ice, but not only is it pretty unsafe to stick a chunk in an individual cocktail (if you swallow it, it's going to do some serious damage on the way down), it's also best to get food-grade dry ice to avoid any additional contaminants, and there's no way the stuff we use in the lab is food-grade. In retrospect I really should have taken some home anyway, because it would have looked great in this photo. Alas.

Mad Scientist

2 oz. white rum (I used Bully Boy)
3/4 oz. simple syrup
3/4 oz. lime juice
~1/2 oz. Green Chartreuse
1 egg white
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice

For foam: (Only use fresh egg whites when consuming raw, and be aware that there is a risk of salmonella.) Place egg white in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat with the whisk attachment until slightly foamy. Add in sugar and lemon juice and beat until the mixture reaches desired consistency.

For cocktail: Combine rum, simple syrup, and lime juice in a shaker with ice and shake until very well-chilled. Double-strain into a beaker. Spoon lemon foam on top. Fill a disposable pipette with Green Chartreuse. (It was a little difficult to get the pipette as full as I wanted it. After I sucked up what I could, it worked best to snip the tip off of another pipette, fill it, hold it with the opening facing down, insert the pipette going into the cocktail, and suck the liquid out.) Place pipette into the cocktail and serve.

Bottle Buy: Green Chartreuse

I have wanted a bottle of Green Chartreuse for a really, really long time. It basically went on my wish list as soon as I started getting into cocktails. It kept popping up in really good drinks, and soon it was pretty clear that it should be one of my next purchases. Then I saw the price tag. Maybe $60 isn't a lot for some folks, but it's pretty hefty for me. I knew it would last a really long time, but there were so many other, cheaper spirits out there that I wanted that I shelved my dreams of Last Words and Chartreuse Swizzles for a later day.

Today!

That's right, I finally bought a bottle of Green Chartreuse, and I am super excited. I'd been feeling a bit uninspired cocktail-wise, and when I looked at some of the recipes I could make with it, I got enthusiastic again. I can't wait to share some with you, and I'll do my best not to put it in everything since I know it's not something a lot of people have at home.

So what is Chartreuse? It's a sweet, herbal liqueur. I primarily wanted it for cocktails, but I also love it on its own. It should be served very cold. Sipping it, there's a really interesting progression of flavors. First you taste the sweetness, then citrus and herbs, and then anise and a vegetable bitterness, with the sweetness lingering after your sip. It's become a very popular shot with a particular crowd; Details magazine called it "the hipster Jagermeister." Roosevelt, which I visited when I went to Denver earlier this year, had Chartreuse on tap (a 70/30 mixture of Yellow to Green, if I remember correctly), and said they serve tons of it. It's particularly popular with service industry folks.

History: Green Chartreuse is made by Catholic Carthusian monks, also known as the Order of St. Bruno or the Chartreuse Order. It was founded in the Chartreuse Mountains of France in 1084. In 1737, the monks began making Green Chartreuse, supposedly based on a recipe for an "Elixer of Long Life" from an ancient manuscript given to the order over 100 years prior by the Marshal of King Henri IV's artillery (no word on where he got it). They sold it as a health tonic, bringing it down to nearby villages by mule. But it turned out that people enjoyed drinking it just for fun, so the monks reduced its alcohol content to 55% and started selling it as a liqueur. It became popular throughout France. In 1838 they began making Yellow Chartreuse as well, which is less alcoholic and slightly sweeter.

The French government briefly took control of the distillery in the early 20th century, forcing the monks to flee to Spain. But the government-run distillery went bankrupt in less than 30 years, and the monks were able to return.

Chartreuse claims that only two monks know the recipe for Green Chartreuse, which includes 130 different plants and flowers. They crush and mix the botanicals at the monastery and then bring them to the distillery in Voiron, about 15 miles away, where they are macerated in alcohol that is distilled and aged in oak casks. Again, it's supposedly only these two guys - Dom Benoit and Brother Jean-Jacques - who do it all with the help of a couple of assistants.

Fun fact: the liqueur came before the color. We refer to certain shades of green as "chartreuse" because they are similar to Green Chartreuse in color.

Green Chartreuse

Price: $60
Alcohol Content: 55%
Popular Cocktails: Last Word, Chartreuse Swizzle, Pousse Cafe, Bijou

I think the Last Word is probably the most popular cocktail with Green Chartreuse. Its ingredients might make you a bit leery at first, but the final product is more than pleasantly surprising. Somehow the combination of equal parts gin, Green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice creates perfect harmony. It's vaguely reminiscent of an Aviation, but the Chartreuse makes it less tart and much more herbal. It's an excellent cocktail.

For the gin, The PDT Cocktail Book calls for Tanqueray; I used The Botanist, one of my new favorites.

History: This is a Prohibition-era cocktail was invented at the Detroit Athletic Club in the 1920's. It was a favorite of Vaudeville comedian Frank Fogarty, and may have been named for him. The recipe was first published in Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up! in 1951. But then it dropped off the map until, in 2004, Murray Stenson put it on the menu at the Zig Zag Cafe in Seattle. It turned out to be quite a resurrection, with the drink becoming widely popular.

Last Word

3/4 oz. gin
3/4 oz. Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz. maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz. lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail or coupe glass and garnish with a brandied cherry, or leave ungarnished.

Recipe from The PDT Cocktail Book.