Name: Monte Cassino
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 22.5 ml Rye whiskey 50% abv; 22.5 ml Bénédictine D.O.M.; 22.5 ml Chartreuse Yellow; 22.5 ml Lemon juice; 10 ml Chilled water

Monte Cassino
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Photographed in a Waterford Mixology Coupe Clear

Ingredients:
³⁄₄ oz	Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
³⁄₄ oz	Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur
³⁄₄ oz	Yellow Chartreuse (or génépy liqueur)
³⁄₄ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₃ oz	Chilled water omit if using wet ice

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

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

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

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Review:

The robust flavours of rye combine harmoniously with the other ingredients in this riff on the classic Last Word.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Served straight-up or on-the-rocks.
Kentucky Colonel (with bourbon)
Shanghai Gin (with gin)
Monty Carlo (with rye whisky)
Monte Carlos (with añejo tequila)
Final Ward
Widow's Word (with calvados)

History:

Adapted from a drink created in 2010 by Damon Dyer at Louis 649, New York City. Damon won the Bénédictine 500th Anniversary Cocktail Competition with this drink.

Named after Monte Cassino, a rocky hill 80 miles southeast of Rome, Italy which is best-known for its historic monastery, built on the site where St. Benedict of Nursia established the Benedictine Order circa 529. The hilltop abbey was destroyed by Allied bombing during the World War II but was subsequently rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1964 by Pope Paul VI.

Last Word history

Nutrition:

One serving of Monte Cassino contains 204 calories

Alcohol content:

1.6 standard drinks
22.02% alc./vol. (22.02° proof)
22 grams of pure alcohol

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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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Showing 10 of 17 comments for Monte Cassino.
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Werd Bmocsil

29th April at 22:31

My ice is decidedly not wet. Should have added the 10ml water.

Nevertheless it was Exceptional!

Matt

22nd December 2024 at 03:13

A great Last Word variant - the yellow Chartreuse is the central player - chartreuse plus Benedictine initially, then a rush of lemon highlights new facets of the chartreuse flavor profile. Rye is somehow pushed to a backdrop, providing a nice, boozy and faintly (relative to chartreuse and Benedictine) spicy. This is delicious!

Jim G

14th December 2024 at 23:19

I've yet to have a cocktail with chartreuse (sadly hard to find) or Benedictine (thankfully readily available) that I did not like. This cocktail uses both and is excellent.

David Teager

13th December 2024 at 23:46

Very good cocktail that could go onto my top 20 list. Note that the titular town is also the location of the opening Battlefieldscene in the classic movie White Christmas.

Leslie

6th December 2024 at 03:28

This was a delight, and though I’m not a honey fan, I loved the experience of honey in the drink (via the Benedictine) which wound everything together beautifully. Too sweet, so I did add another 10mls of lemon juice and I highly recommend taking the “wet ice” or 10mls cold water seriously. A new fav, I think!

Peter McCarthy

12th October 2024 at 05:41

Each sip was a bit of a flavor adventure. Strong lemon upfront, which faded into honeyed rye whiskey, which faded into herbal notes, which faded into a slight bitterness on the back end, with lemon lingering throughout. I used Wild Turkey 101 Rye, Benedictine, & Yellow Chartreuse.

Avery Garnett

30th November 2023 at 20:19

Every time you think you've gotten every possible flavour from last word variations, something surprises you. This tastes identical to a honey-lemon throat lozenge except endlessly better. As other commenters mentioned it is a little bit sweet, and I used 3 dashes of grapefruit bitters to produce an absolute delight.

Florian Ruf

21st February 2023 at 16:13

In my opinion one of the best cocktail recipes I tried (without using some special ingredients). After being a devotee of Rittenhouse, this time I tried TX Straight Rye. Maybe the resulting cocktail is even better.

Gordon Woodward-Clark

11th December 2022 at 18:10

Lovely - especially with an egg white foam!

Calvin Grant

11th December 2022 at 03:25

Following the suggestions below I skipped the added water and increased the rye 25%. Substituted Liquore Strega for the Chartreuse and did not fine strain. purrfect.