When I think of “last word,” I don’t usually associate the phrase with a cocktail. I think of lucidness in the moment of finality — individuals who are able to leave us with words that alter how we think or view life. Or, at least, offer a sober, realistic assessment of life. The words below the title were the last for Michel Ney, Napoleon’s stalwart general and a consummate soldier. At his execution, he gave the order to fire on himself. This part of his last words appears often. Less so, however, is what preceded them: “… I have fought a hundred battles for France, and not one against her.”

In Ney’s moment of finality, there were two ironies here. He’d devoted his life to Marshal service for the nation that would now repay it with execution. The other is that Ney likely never expected to die off the battlefield. He followed the subtitle above with, “… when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart” — to the end, a general to soldiers.

I’m a political scientist by training, and there are perhaps no words more apropos to the societal moment than Italian Renaissance diplomat and philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli (1527):

This is a drinks blog, however, and Actor Humphrey Bogart’s (1957) purported last words are apt: 

This week’s cocktail is The Last Word. It is, in all respects, perfect in conception. Other cocktails want to be it. Each of the major base spirits wants to be in a Last Word. The cocktail is a pre-Prohibition drink, seemingly developed at the Detroit Athletic Club in the 1910s, before the evil scourge of temperance. So, this week, let’s soak up the wisdom of those at the end and lift a Last Word to those who use their last moments to teach us.

This is a shaken cocktail (the lime abides). Chill your glass thoroughly. In one half of the shaker tin, combine the ingredients, sans garnish. In the other, load with ice. Bring the two together for a standard shake until well chilled. Fine-strain into your glass and garnish with the cherry. Enjoy!

If you would like a milk-washed (clarified) Last Word, which is my favorite version. Just make sure the optional whole milk above is room temperature. Mix the ingredients (no need for ice) and add the cocktail to the milk (not the other way around). Allow this to sit for about 40 minutes, then chill it in the refrigerator until cold. I don’t know the science, but it seems to make the drink clearer if cooled. Filter the drink through a coffee filter. This could take a while. Once filtered, you can chill again in the fridge. When ready, just add the drink to your glass, garnish, and enjoy. It’ll look like this: 

Ingredients-wise, there aren’t a lot of options in this cocktail. And you don’t need them. The Last Word is as near a perfect drink as it gets. Other spirits want to be in this cocktail — see the Final Ward (whiskey), Last of the Oaxacans (Tequila), and the Wordsmith (rum). Green Chartreuse has no real parallel or substitute. That’s a problem because the Monks who make it aren’t really that concerned with market expectations. Genepy sometimes works well, but it makes a slightly different drink in both color and flavor. Luxardo is the iconic Maraschino liqueur here, but there are others. I like London Dry gin for this. I used Ford’s Gin above, but my usual go-to for this drink is Tanqueray. In general, though, I wouldn’t use a super expensive, delicate gin for the drink. It needs to stand up to the liqueurs and lime. So, those types of gins get lost in the mix.

You do, however, have options with technique. The Last Word makes a good clarified drink with milk or coconut milk. You can also clarify the lime juice beforehand. Either of these will give you varying degrees of clarity that differ from the original, depending on the level of opacity you’d like to see. Make sure that lime juice is fresh; it oxidizes quickly, loses its bright citrus character, and gets harshly bitter.

One thing I like to do with the garnish is give the Maraschino Cherry a quick rinse. We already have Maraschino Liqueur in the drink. So, if a bit too much of the cherry’s syrup ends up in the drink, it can alter the color too much and throw the perfectly balanced drink off in flavor. Or, maybe you are a sucker for a cherry note in drinks? To each his or her own.

This blog is, as ever, an opinionated take on drinks.