The world needs more Chartreuse-based drinks.
True, the French herbal liqueur is splashed about a bit too liberally nowadays; so many ambitious bartenders and home mixologists handle Chartreuse much the way they once did St. Germain, pouring it into more cocktails than they should while seeking to give their bespoke drinks what they hope is the Last Word kind of treatment.
But you can’t blame Chartreuse for its current overexposure, and the cocktail world would be a lesser place without drinks like the Diamondback or the Pago Pago Cocktail, to say nothing of the extraordinarily tasty Chartreuse Swizzle, in which Marco Dionysos built a drink around the liqueur’s robust herbaceousness, matching it with the tropical brightness of pineapple and the sweetness and spice of falernum.
I first read about the Beuser & Angus Special a couple of years ago, on Jay Hepburn’s Oh Gosh blog (and if you want to see a lovely photo of this drink in action, click on that link — my lackluster skills as a photographer have doomed this drink tonight, and besides, Jay’s photos always look so delicious). Developed by German bartender Goncalo de Sousa Monteiro, and named for Traveling Mixologists Bastian Heuser and Angus Winchester, the drink is, like the Chartreuse Swizzle, built on a powerful foundation of green Chartreuse. While a liqueur, green Chartreuse is remarkably dry (owing in part to its whopping 120-proof potency, as well as to its botanical blend); combined with fresh lime juice, the mix needs a counterbalance of sweetness, which comes from maraschino liqueur (right now you’ve got three-quarters of a Last Word, though in different proportions) and a touch of simple syrup. Fresh egg white lightens what could otherwise be an assertively heavy mixture, and when topped with orange flower water, the finished drink has aromatics that wave their wispy fingers at you from across the room.
Between the herbal green Chartreuse and the orange flower water, the drink has a distinctly floral element – making it appropriate for this month’s floral-themed Mixology Monday, hosted by Dave at The Barman Cometh. Here’s my contribution to the online cocktail party; head on over to Dave’s place to see what others have come up with.
Beuser & Angus Special
- 1 3/4 ounce green Chartreuse
- 3/4 ounce lime juice
- 1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1 egg white
- 5 dashes orange flower water
Combine everything except OFW in a cocktail shaker and shake well, without ice, until drink is well mixed and foamy. Add ice and shake again until chilled, about 10 seconds. Strain into double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice. Dash OFW atop drink.
Thanks for sharing Paul. I’ll have to give this one a try — if I can ever get my hands on some orange flower water. Have a good one 🙂
Sounds good, but do you really mean 5 dashes of OFW? If you’re using the standard definition of a dash, thats 5/8 tsp. of OFW. In my experience, a little goes a long way, so before I try making this, I’d like a little clarification.
I was thinking the same thing. Drops seems more like it. Perhaps a subtlety lost in translation?
The Oh Gosh post suggests 3 drops, so yeah drops is more like it. I’m so excited to make this, maraschino, Chartreuse, and orange blossom water are 3 of my favorite flavors.
[…] the barker of this carnival, Paul brings us a new way to enjoy everyone’s favorite green […]
Yes, what was up with the St. Germain everywhere? New liqueurs and spirits come and go every year, but for some reason that stuff caught the blogosphere’s fancy and wouldn’t let go. It was spectacularly irritating in the days before the LCBO stocked St. Germain (now that they do, I don’t even feel moved to drink the stuff; ah, the allure of the unavailable).
Chartreuse is next on my “to try” list after re-reading about it in F. Paul Pacult’s “Kindred Spirits” recently, and this recipe sounds fabulously old-school.
How’d I miss this recipe before? Sheesh! Sounds loverly, thanks for posting it Paul.