Final Ward

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (235 ratings)
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    Final Ward

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Final Ward image

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
3⁄4 oz Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
3⁄4 oz Green Chartreuse (or alternative herbal liqueur)
3⁄4 oz Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
3⁄4 oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
  3. SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 9/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

The Last Word is classically made with gin, maraschino, Chartreuse and lime juice. In this riff, whiskey replaces the gin, and Mr Ward switches citrus fruits from lime to lemon.

View readers' comments

Variant:

20 best Last Word variations

History:

Perhaps the best-known riff on the classic Last Word, it was created in 2007 by Phil Ward at Death & Co., New York City, USA.

More cocktails by Phil Ward

Nutrition:

One serving of Final Ward contains 184 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.6 standard drinks
  • 25.2% alc./vol. (25.2° proof)
  • 22.7 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Egg McKenzie’s Avatar Egg McKenzie
10th May at 21:46
Truly excellent. Perhaps more balanced than the OG?
2
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Yorey C’s Avatar Yorey C
25th November 2024 at 05:17
delicious, predictably. not too sour, stuff usually is for me. well balanced, but for my taste i might want to bump up the rye by 50% or more.
1
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Daniel Ortiz’s Avatar Daniel Ortiz
13th November 2024 at 23:54
This is a great drink! I made a slight modification and used two parts rye (split between Old Forester and Alberta Premium Cask Strength) to one part everything else and it is lovely.
0
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Andrew Geoghegan’s Avatar Andrew Geoghegan
2nd November 2024 at 18:01
I was a bit on autopilot today and made this like a ‘closing argument’ replacing the mezcal with rye - meaning lime not lemon. It was pretty good. Will now have to try this properly. Poor me!
1
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Sharon Kulvinskas’ Avatar Sharon Kulvinskas
4th April 2024 at 21:04
This is very good the lemon juice gives it a sour kick that I like. I used Luxardo Perla Dry because that’s what I had and it is extra boozy, I like that too!
1
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william dennehy’s Avatar william dennehy
9th January 2024 at 20:21
God this is a perfect drink. Thank you!
5
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Jared Miller’s Avatar Jared Miller
18th February 2023 at 02:12
Like a Monte Cassino, but brighter.
1
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
18th February 2023 at 13:28
Thanks, Jared. I've added a link to the Monte Cassino above.
1
reply
Tuber Magnatum’s Avatar Tuber Magnatum
27th March 2022 at 23:14
As per Marc's suggestion below, tried with Yellow Chartreuse; yummy!
1
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John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
6th September 2021 at 23:06
This was good. I did find it had a slight sweetness. Not overly sweet, and still enjoyable. Half way through, I did a spritz of Absinthe on the top. Took down the sweetness and added to the herbal notes.
5
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Marc Lipton’s Avatar Marc Lipton
30th April 2021 at 22:54
Try it with yellow vs green Chartruese....
1
reply
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