10.02.2016

Cocktail #24: The Chartreuse Swizzle

After how much I liked my version of Milwaukee Tiki Bar Foundation's "Martinique" cocktail, which features Chartreuse, I decided to keep going with Chartreuse and found the Chartreuse Swizzle in Martin Cate's Smuggler's Cove book, where the main ingredient is ... you guessed it -- Chartreuse.


The Chartreuse Swizzle is a modern exotic cocktail creation by Smugger's Cove bartender, Marcovaldo Dionysos. The interesting thing about this drink is that green Chartreuse is the main spirit, which seems to be pretty rare.

This is an easy one:


1.00 oz. pineapple juice (I used fresh from the pineapple I had on hand; canned works too)
0.75 oz. fresh lime juice
0.50 oz. John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum
1.50 oz. green Chartreuse

Combine all the ingredients in a Collins or Zombie glass. Fill the glass with crushed ice until it's 3/4 full. Swizzle with a lele or barspoon for 30-60 seconds until the glass gets frosty. Top up with additional crushed ice as needed to fill glass. Add garnish. I garnished with a sprig of mint, a pineapple leaf, and a swizzle napkin wrap.


Martin Cate explains the swizzle napkin wrap, which he learned at Trader Vic's. Basically, take a cocktail napkin and open it up. Fold diagonally creating a right triangle. Fold or roll the wide edge a few times and tie the two ends together around your glass. It gives the drinker something to hold onto so they don't have to hold a very cold, frosty glass.


Given my new-found appreciation for Chartreuse, I really like this one. Even though it's a frosty swizzle which typically would conjure images of a drink to be enjoyed on a hot summer day, this cocktail seemed perfect for early fall - a little spicy, a bit floral, with the sweetness of the pineapple juice taking the edge off of the Chartreuse. My better half called it "medicinal" but not pejoratively - she actually quite liked it.

This is a lovely, easy cocktail to make - definitely worth trying.

While you're swizzling up this modern cocktail, stream some modern exotica - one of my favorites - the Martini Kings!


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