Time for a Drink: Chartreuse Swizzle
Let's start the weekend right—with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke of The Cocktail Chronicles. Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
In a recent diatribe against oppressive summer heat, I praised the class of crushed ice drinks known as swizzles. Originating in the Caribbean and typically made of rum, lime juice, and occasionally the lime-and-clove syrup called falernum, swizzles are among the most effective heat busters in the bibulous kingdom. But they’re not all based on rum. Here's a contemporary drink that takes the swizzle’s foundation and revamps it in a spectacularly flavorful way: the Chartreuse Swizzle.
Created by San Francisco bartender Marcovaldo Dionysos, the Chartreuse Swizzle takes the basic elements of a Caribbean swizzle and sends them to grad school. By swapping the rum for green Chartreuse—a French herbal liqueur with a recipe dating back centuries—the Chartreuse Swizzle takes a simple summer cooler and turns the complexity level up to the proverbial eleven. The mixture may seem odd but in the glass, it works wonders. If you're looking for a unique and stunning drink to cool off with this August weekend, the Chartreuse Swizzle would be a good place to start.
About the author: Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
Chartreuse Swizzle
Ingredients
1 1/4 ounce green Chartreuse
1 ounce pineapple juice
3/4 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce falernum*
Procedure
Combine ingredients in a Collins glass and fill with crushed ice. Swizzle with a bar spoon or swizzle stick until the outside of the glass frosts, adding more crushed ice as needed. Serve with a straw and a satisfied expression.
*Velvet Falernum is available in some liquor stores, and Fee Brothers makes a nonalcoholic falernum that is serviceable. Or, you can make your own.
View other entries from Cocktail Concoctions.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
1 Comment:
I can't get over the flavor of NyQuil that Chartreuse gives me - I've tried it in a Last Word and a Bywater and just not enjoyed it.
I've learned to enjoy absinthe (in spite of not liking anise) in moderation (corpse revivers rock!) and love Campari. Peychaud Bitters are great (the Sazerac has become a fave). But Chartreuse just hasn't worked for me. I'll maybe try this tomorrow if I'm feeling really brave. Do the pineapple and lime and falernum (all of which I have) help to override the taste of the Chartreuse?
annaraven at 1:17AM on 08/09/09