Last Word Cocktail

Last Word Cocktail Story

In the 1920s, while the rest of the country packed itself into speakeasies to drink bathtub gin and smuggled whiskey, gentlemen at the exclusive Detroit Athletic Club were quietly imbibing a perfectly balanced cocktail made with exotic ingredients. The Last Word, with its wildly unconventional marriage of Chartreuse and Maraska cherry liqueur, remained relatively absent from the canon of classic cocktails, enjoyed solely by those in the know. Vaudevillian Frank Fogarty is thought to have introduced the drink to the New York bar scene. Ted Saucier finally penned the recipe for the Last Word in his 1951 publication Bottoms Up, which bartender Murray Stenson happened to be leafing through while tending bar at Seattle’s Zig Zag Cafe in the mid 2000s. By placing the drink on the bar’s menu, Stenson finally brought the Last Word out from the obscurity of venerable high society and into the hands of adventurous drinkers from coast to coast.