014 – The Last Word

A Sydney ‘lock-down’ version of the 1916 pre-Prohibition ‘Last Word’.

Sydney’s Covid Lockdown has inspired me to explore this famous pre-Prohibition cocktail, one that was almost lost to history. Let’s take a look at the ‘Last Word’ in its original 1916 form.

Make your own Locktail 1916 version of ‘The Last Word’. Here is my preferred recipe:

METHOD — Add 25ml Gin (I have used Hartshorn’s Sheep Whey Gin from Tasmania – see Locktail Changes below, but use any dry and un-complicated Gin – The Botanist is fine to use. If you want to be super-authentic, find a Prohibition style ‘Bath Cut’ Gin), 25ml Green Chartreuse, 25ml Luxardo Maraschino, and 25ml fresh Lime Juice to a shaker with ice. Shake until very cold and strain into glassware. Float some Lime zest oil drops on the cocktail and garnish with two brandied cherries or two maraschino cocktail cherries.

HISTORICAL NOTES – The earliest known appearance of the ‘Last Word’ is in the July-August 1916 Members’ Magazine of the Detroit Athletics Club (DAC), where the index of the Club’s Menu was published to members. The ‘Last Word’ was available for 35-cents (a little over $10 in 2020 value), making it their most expensive cocktail. Unfortunately no copy of the menu itself seems to have survived.

It is an interesting historical document, rich with other famous cocktails, including the Manhattan, Martini, Bronx, Jack Rose, Stinger, Clover Club, Alexander and Old Fashioned, among others, all just 4-years before the start of US Prohibition (1920-1933).

It has been said by some Cocktail historians, that this is the last great cocktail to appear before US Prohibition (1920–1933). The story goes that Frank Fogarty (1878–1925), a famous vaudeville performer and monologue artist (modern-day ‘stand-up comic’) known as the ‘Dublin Minstrel’, introduced the cocktail recipe to the Detroit Athletics Club while performing nearby at the Temple Theater. This is largely the result of the recipe turning up in Ted Saucier’s 1951 cocktail book ‘Bottoms Up!’, where he thanks the Detroit Athletics Club and attributes the cocktail’s creation to Frank Fogarty.

Unfortunately for the story, Fogarty did not perform in Detroit until after the 1916 DAC Members’ Magazine and was never known to be a cocktail maker or bar worker. What seems more likely but less romantic, is that Fogarty experienced the ‘Last Word’ at the Detroit Athletics Club, and brought news of the cocktail to Ted Saucier’s attention in New York, as a result of his traveling as a accomplished and in-demand performer. Regardless, no one else holds claim for the ‘Last Word’ cocktail’s creation, so it will remain with the ‘Dublin Minstrel’ Frank Fogarty, who unfortunately died of Pneumonia aged 47. Frank was certainly the reason the ‘Cocktail’ came to Ted Saucier’s attention, and was ultimately published by him. Also most likely the reason that the recipe for the cocktail survived, rather than just a name on a menu card.

The ‘Last Word’ remained a very obscure cocktail and disappeared again, until re-discovered by Murray Stenson in 2004 in a copy of Saucier’s book. Stenson recreated the ‘Last Word’ and offered it to patrons at his Zig Zag Cafe in Seattle, where it became a popular cocktail. The ‘Last Word’ started turning up again in more contemporary cocktail books, including Giglio and Fink’s, ‘Mr Boston Official Bartender’s Guide’ in 2009.

The cocktail has seen a resurgence, and has spawned at least a dozen other cocktail variations, including the ‘Paper Plane’, which is itself a contemporary classic and very popular cocktail. The ‘Last Word’ is included in the International Bartender Association (IBA) ‘Unforgettables’ list of only 33 cocktails, and is one of those Cocktails where the mix probably shouldn’t work, but it just does. Thanks to a tenuous chain of events, this is one Cocktail that survived Prohibition and the passage of over 100-years.

THE OFFICIAL MIX – The ‘Last Word’ appears in the International Bartender Association (IBA) ‘Unforgettables’ list, here. The official recipe is 22.5ml Gin, 22.5ml Green Chartreuse, 22.5ml Maraschino Luxardo, 22.5ml fresh Lime juice. Shaken with ice and strained into a Cocktail Glass. No garnish.

TASTING NOTES – One of the three-equal-part mix cocktails, like a Negroni, that just works. The strong individual flavour profiles of Green Chartreuse and Luxardo Maraschino are brought into balance by each other and the addition of fresh lime juice. I am not surprised that this is sometimes known as the ‘last great cocktail’ invented prior to US Prohibition (1920–1933). The balance is a pleasant surprise and this is a cocktail well worth getting to know. Even if you are not a fan of Green Chartreuse or Maraschino, this might be the cocktail where you come to appreciate those strong ingredients in a complementary mix.

LOCKTAIL CHANGES – I have stuck with the ‘equal parts’ formulation, but avoided the IBA’s suggestion of measuring down to half-milliliters, that seems crazy to me. Make it 15ml of each, 20ml, or 30ml, just make them the same. I have gone with 25ml of each, as that volume suits a Coupe glass. Initially I was going to use The Botanist (Gin) or one that celebrated the pre-Prohibition ‘Bath Cut’ style that may have been used in the Detroit Athletics Club back in 1916.

Instead I went with a rather unique Gin, the Hartshorn Sheep Whey Gin from Tasmania, Australia. The Sheep Whey gives it a smoothness on the palate, and it is sweet and uncomplicated in other botanicals, a great way to avoid a clash with the Chartreuse and Maraschino. The smoothness and sweetness lifting the other flavours. If you can source this Gin, here, you will not be disappointed both for ‘The Last Word’, and other Gin Cocktails. I have also included some lime zest, just to strengthen the tartness of the lime, and used Maraschino Cherries in the garnish to connect with the Luxardo Maraschino.

YOUR LOCKTAIL EXPERIENCE – If you’d rather taste than read, I am progressively building an ingredient list and other sourcing information on this site. I will re-use ingredients where I can (good for my budget too), so that the cost goes down overtime if you are ‘playing at home’.

Let me know what you think.

Cocktails you’d like reinvented.

Recipes you’ve tried and your ‘score’.

This is the 4th of the 1900-1910 bracket of ‘Locktail’ remixes. See the full list in the index.