The Last Word
The FixerSpoken once
The Last Word originated at the Detroit Athletic Club around 1915 and vanished from the record for decades, surviving only in a single recipe book until it was revived at Seattle's Zig Zag Café in 2004 by Murray Stenson, who found it and understood immediately what it was. It is a drink that disappeared, was not missed by the people who should have been paying attention, and returned exactly as it had left. The Fixer said nothing when this history was relayed to her. She found it accurate.
Ingredients
- ¾ oz
London Dry gin
A particular Scottish distillery, which is unusual for London Dry and which she has not explained. The juniper runs cold and clean.
- ¾ oz
Green Chartreuse
Made by Carthusian monks from a formula involving 130 plants and herbs, held by exactly two monks at any given time since 1605. She has expressed no curiosity about the recipe.
- ¾ oz
Luxardo maraschino liqueur
From the original Padua production, not the Croatian relocation. The distinction is historical and she is particular about history.
- ¾ oz
Fresh lime juice
A single fresh kaffir lime leaf, expressed between the palms and rested on the rim — sourced from trees grown in the northern highlands of Thailand. How she sources it is consistent with how she sources everything: it arrives, it is correct, and the mechanism is not discussed.
Method
Measure equal parts, precisely. Never estimated.
Combine all four ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice.
Shake until the shaker is genuinely cold.
Strain into a chilled coupe with the precision of someone who does not repeat herself.
If using the optional kaffir lime leaf: express between the palms, rest on the rim.
She ordered this drink once, at a bar that did not have it listed, in a city where it is not commonly known. The bartender said he didn't know it. She described it once, quietly, without looking up from the table. When it arrived it was correct. She didn't thank him. She left a tip that the bartender later described as "an amount I'm still thinking about."