Having the Last Word Cocktail
It’s almost always fun to have a cocktail new to you for the first time. Wait, let me rephrase that: it’s almost always (at least a very high percentage of the time) fun to have a cocktail new to you when made by someone who you can trust, who knows their shaking. If that someone is Seattle’s own Murray Stenson from the fantabulistic Zig Zag Café, then you know you’re in for a real cocktail treat. Which is why it’s so nice that the drinking universe, as this article in the Seattle Times posits, is picking up on the Last Word, a cocktail Mr. Stenson discovered in a 1951 book, “Bottoms Up!" by Ted Saucier, and then brought back to the menu, and to the cocktail-loving world. Now, I’ve sipped and loved he Last Word at my last New Year’s Eve dinner (at Mona’s), and recently at the new Bar Naga (where it was made by another great Seattle bartender, Andrew Bohrer), but if you’re in Seattle and want to track it down to the source, then head to the Zig Zag and have Mr. Stenson himself shake up a Last Word for you. Its combination of gin, lime juice, green Chartreuse, and maraschino liqueur is a pretty amazing balance of flavors, tang, and harmony. If you can’t make it to Seattle and want to try making the Last Word on your own (and really, why not give it a shot), then the below video (also from the Seattle Times) lets you learn from the master himself:
--A.J. Rathbun
Last Word photo by Erika Schultz at the Seattle Times
Ara Jane on March 12, 2009 at 09:00 PM
I had a Last Word at the Hi-Life in Ballard a few weeks ago and it was amazing! I'm usually a gimlet gal myself, so this was right up my alley. Highly recommended.
A.J. Rathbun on March 13, 2009 at 09:21 AM
Well, Ara Jane, considering that I believe you've been name-dropped as the co-creator of a tasty drink in a giant book of cocktails, your recommendation should always be taken (at least when it comes to drinks--and most others things, too).
A.J.