A Hoppy Last Word

Hello again! We’ve had a busy last few weeks, which completely disrupted our usual Friday Happy Hour cocktail posts. But now we’re back and wanted to get right into our theme for this month: beer cocktails! We’re starting off with a slight variation on a vintage cocktail, the Last Word: a Hoppy Last Word cocktail recipe with a Belgian Pale Ale and green chartreuse that’s perfect for this fall weather. –Andrew

Hoppy Last Word Cocktail Recipe with Green Chartreuse and Pale Ale / Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Hoppy Last Word

3/4 oz Dry Gin
3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz Maraschino Liqueur
3/4 oz Lime Juice
Pale Ale

Combine everything except the beer in a shaker filled two-thirds with ice and shake well. Strain into a coupe glass and top with a splash of the beer. Enjoy!

We last featured the Last Word three (!) years ago. It’s a weird, wonderful, pungent combination of equal measures of gin, green chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice. New York bartender Phil Ward calls it “a four-way car crash in which no one is hurt and everyone’s glad they met afterward,” which sums it up nicely.

Hoppy Last Word Cocktail Recipe with Green Chartreuse and Pale Ale / Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

The Last Word’s simple formula of four equal measures – a base spirit, citrus, and two flavorful liqueurs, with lots of herbaceous botanicals – is ripe for variation. This recipe doesn’t do anything too crazy to the original, but it does add some bright effervescence and an extra layer of complexity.

Hoppy Last Word Cocktail Recipe with Green Chartreuse and Pale Ale / Liquorary for Oh So Beautiful Paper

We tried this a couple of ways and settled on a Belgian pale ale by a local DC brewery, DC Brau. A bitter IPA would overwhelm this drink with too many botanicals, while a gentle, fruity wheat beer would be too limp in the face of so many strong flavors. So we split the difference with a Belgian pale ale, with just enough bitterness to stand up to the Last Word. It’s still a weird, pungent drink, but also light and flavorful and wonderful, and perfect for the fall.

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Glassware by Liquorary

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

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