Leathered Last Word

2015-11-15

Ingredients

  • 1 part Gin
  • 1 part Green Chartreuse
  • 1 part Maraschino Liqueur
  • 5 oz. Lactart (or ½ oz. 88% Lactic Acid) per 750ml of Gin

  • For a 3-liter wineskin, use:
  • 1 750ml bottle Gin
  • 1 750ml bottle Green Chartreuse
  • 1 750ml bottle Maraschino Liqueur
  • 5 oz. Lactart (or ½ oz. 88% Lactic Acid)

  • Add all ingredients to a 3-liter leather wineskin and store to taste (2 days to indefinitely). To serve, tap 3 ounces into an ice-filled mixing glass. Stir to chill and strain into a coupe glass. If bottling, add ⅓ oz. water per 6 oz. of cocktail and store in the freezer.

The Last Word is a great cocktail to Leather by aging in a traditional Spanish wineskin (bota). The gin’s botanicals and the Chartreuse’s herbaceousness marry delightfully with the leather. We love aging cocktails in charred oak barrels and thought, “Heck! Why not try aging them in a wineskin!” The recipe we use for our wineskin-aged Last Word is from Jake Valianes, owner of Toronto’s Linwood Essentials. He uses lactart (lactic acid) in place of the lime juice you’d use in a single-serving fresh cocktail. Aging cocktails with citrus is problematic, so the lactic acid stands in for the limes, providing a smooth sour taste. The Last Word itself was created in the early 1920’s by some forgotten bartender at the Detroit Athletic Club. First published in 1951 in Ted Saucier’s cocktail book Bottoms Up, it was re-popularized in 2005 by Murray Stenson from Seattle’s Zig Zag Café. Age the cocktail to taste. We enjoy it most after about four days and up to two weeks. Enjoy it straight from the wineskin or bottle up the aged concoction. If it gets too leathery for your palate, then top off the wineskin with fresh ingredients (à la the solera method) to tone it down. Check out our other Leathered (Wineskin-Aged) Cocktails and learn the ins-and-outs of wineskin management on our Tools & Techniques video. Cheers!

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