The Last Word is far from the final statement on 4-ingredient cocktails, but it could be one of my favorites. Originally the Prohibition-era signature drink of the Detroit Athletic Club, the recipe was published in the 1950s but didn’t become part of the cocktail revolution until just this side of the turn of the century when it was rediscovered by bartender Murray Stenson in Seattle in 2004. It was almost lost to obscurity until it was rescued in the mid-aughts by a Seattle bartender. It’s amazing how differently these variations taste, with huge swings in flavor profile but barely different ingredients. The possibilities here are endless, and serve as the ideal template for further experimentation. One variant, The Paper Plane made up of equal parts bourbon, Amaro Nonino Quintessentia, and lemon, is one of my absolute favorites.
Don’t try to pronounce this one. The Lauwiliwilinukunuku’oi’oi cocktail was created around 2014 by mixologist Marcovaldo Dionysos at the famous Smuggler’s Cove tiki bar in San Francisco. Named after the longnose butterflyfish (the Hawaiian lauwiliwilinukunuku’oi’oi), it was designed as a rum-based riff on Beachbum Berry’s famous Humuhumunukunukuapua’a cocktail, swapping out gin for a blended aged rum.
Author Ian Fleming invented the drink for the 1953 novel Casino Royale, naming it after the fictional double agent Vesper Lynd. James Bond orders it with three parts gin, one of vodka, and.5 parts of Kina Lillet. I find dropping the vodka in favor of more gin is vastly more interesting.
