The Prohibition, otherwise known as the “Noble Experiment,” may have been one of the most deceptive eras of the past century. Far from noble and anything but dry, Prohibition, as North Americans know it, was a roaring jumble of bootleg booze, bloody black market feuds, speakeasy ragers and sultry, underground jazz.
According to Ted Saucier’s 1951 bar book, Bottoms Up, the cocktail known as The Last Word was born from the cigarette and gun smoke of the Prohibition. Saucier attributes the cocktail’s debut to the historic Detroit Athletic Club, where this tangy, herbaceous classic was sipped until somehow slipping into obscurity for the latter part of the 20th century.
Thanks to an esteemed handful of craft bartenders in Seattle and New York, who plucked the recipe from obscurity and reintroduced it to the thirsty public, The Last Word has undergone a recent renaissance that has fed a quiet but steady tributary amongst cocktail aficionados and professional bartenders.
It’s become one of those classics that serious bartenders pride themselves on being able to mix — literally, the last word in cocktail knowledge and bar prowess — and Toronto’s bar community hasn’t missed the memo.
Equal parts gin, green chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and lime juice, The Last Word marries improbably matched elements into a punchy, seamless sipper. Layers of flavour — botanical and bittersweet, tart and zesty — endow The Last Word with some serious legs. Let’s just say that if the cocktail were a lady, she’d be a Swedish supermodel.
Celebrate your liberated lifestyle with a little Prohibition retrospective and let The Last Word cross your lips. At home: scour the LCBO for bottles of Plymouth gin ($26.95 for 750 mL), green Chartreuse ($30.80 for 375 mL) and Luxardo maraschino ($25.95 for 750 mL); add a squeeze of fresh lime. Around town: head east to Leslieville’s The Comrade, where they’ll fix you up with a classic version of The Last Word ($10). For a lovely twist on the original, sample My Word, a heady blend of chamomile-infused gin, yellow Chartreuse, maraschino and citrus at Boehmer on Ossington ($12).
The Comrade, 758 Queen St. E., 416-778-9449; Boehmer, 93 Ossington Ave., 416-531-3800