Last week we offered up Maryland House's Gin Rickey as an ode to The Great Gatsby, and this week we're back for another speakeasy-inspired libation. Bartender Arron Barrow popped a bottle of champagne just to make us a French 75, originally invented in Paris in 1915, but brought to the states shortly thereafter.
A French 75 is so named because the combination of gin, lemon juice, sugar and champagne is said to have the power of a French 75-millimeter M1897 field gun used in WWI. It's deceptively strong and quite possibly our new party mainstay. Champagne without gin? Never again!
Last Word The Royale (3132 S. Kingshighway; 314-772-3600)
The Last Word is made from equal amounts of gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and fresh lime juice. Don't be fooled by its sweet, summery flavor though; this drink packs a punch. Robert Griffin of The Royale made us a Last Word, and indeed, it was the last thing we could drink. After downing the green cocktail, we were spent.
It was created in the early 1920s at the Detroit Athletic Club, which is more of a private social club than, you know, a gym. Many consider it one of the best cocktails to come out of Prohibition, though it was lost to the sands of time until the 1950s when Ted Saucier wrote about it in his cocktail book, Bottoms Up!
Saucier wrote: "This cocktail was introduced around here about thirty years ago by Frank Fogarty, who was very well known in vaudeville. He was called the 'Dublin Minstrel,' and was a very fine monologue artist."
We can't find anything definitive about the cocktail's name, but we imagine it's called a "Last Word" because, well, after you drink it, you're done. Consider it the singing fat lady of the cocktail world.
