Mezcal Last Word
Equal parts mezcal, green Chartreuse, maraschino and lime. The Last Word's architecture with smoke where the gin was — and it survives the swap intact.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Chill a coupe.
Add all four ingredients to a shaker in equal measure.
Fill with ice and shake hard for 12-15 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe. No garnish.
A thoughtful finish
- Equal parts, measured. This drink's reputation rests entirely on the balance and eyeballing it shows immediately.
- Green Chartreuse at 55% is the strongest thing in the glass and the most assertive flavour. It is what makes the smoke work rather than fight.
- Shake hard. Four ingredients at equal volume need proper dilution to come together.
Common mistakes
- Substituting yellow Chartreuse without saying so. Yellow is sweeter and gentler at 40% — that drink exists and is closer to a Naked and Famous.
- Using cherry liqueur instead of maraschino. Maraschino is dry, funky and nutty; cherry liqueur is sweet and jammy.
- Reaching for a wild-agave mezcal. It disappears completely against Chartreuse.
A few good questions.
How is it different from a Last Word?
Only the base spirit — mezcal instead of gin. The smoke replaces the juniper and the drink becomes deeper and more savoury, but the structure is untouched.
What is Naked and Famous?
Joaquín Simó's drink at Death & Co: equal parts mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and lime. A gentler, more bitter cousin and arguably the better-known agave version of this template.
Can I use tequila?
Yes, and it makes a cleaner, brighter drink sometimes called a Final Word or a Tequila Last Word. The smoke is what makes the mezcal version distinctive.
Why is green Chartreuse so expensive?
It is made by Carthusian monks to a secret recipe with around 130 botanicals, and production has been deliberately capped. One bottle lasts a long time at three-quarters of an ounce per drink.
Variations
- Last Word — Gin in place of mezcal.
- Naked and Famous — Mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and lime.
- Final Ward — Rye, maraschino, green Chartreuse and lemon.
- Paper Plane — Bourbon, amaro, Aperol and lemon.
Where it comes from
c. 2010s
A modern variation on the Last Word, a Prohibition-era Detroit Athletic Club drink revived by Murray Stenson in Seattle in the 2000s. No single author for the mezcal version is documented, and it emerged alongside Joaquín Simó’s Naked and Famous — mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and lime — which is the better-documented agave descendant of the same equal-parts family. The Last Word template is unusually robust: it works with gin, mezcal, rye and aged rum in the base slot.
Sources
- Ted Haigh, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, 2004 (book)
- Robert Simonson, A Proper Drink, 2016 (book)
- Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails, 2014 (book)
Strength. About 1.65 US standard drinks at an estimated 26.4% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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