Name: First Word
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 37.5 ml Gin; 22.5 ml Maraschino liqueur; 22.5 ml Dry vermouth; 22.5 ml Lime juice; 15 ml Orange-red aperitivo

First Word
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Glass:

Photographed in a Retro Coupe Engraved 7.75oz

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₄ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
³⁄₄ oz	Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
³⁄₄ oz	Strucchi Dry Vermouth
³⁄₄ oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₂ oz	Bittersweet orange-red aperitivo

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of lime zest twist and Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

Express lime zest twist over cocktail and discard.
Garnish with skewered cherry.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Dry vermouth - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Bittersweet and gin-laced, this is one of the first Last Word riffs to emerge from the Chartreuse shortage in 2022.

View readers' comments

Variant:

20 best Last Word variations

History:

Adapted from a recipe by Scarecrow1779 discovered on Reddit.com.
See: Last Word history

Nutrition:

One serving of First Word contains 199 calories

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
17.37% alc./vol. (34.74° proof)
20.8 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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Showing 10 of 17 comments for First Word.
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Caitlin Eisner

8th December at 10:29

I tried this with a dash of Peychaud's, which really helped to round it out.

Joseph Nelson

4th December at 23:24

I think a lot of people get hung up comparing this directly to a Last Word, because they taste very different (obviously). I found this to be an appealing, tart cocktail with a strong personality. It's going into my regular rotation for sure.

Calvin Grant

5th December at 04:00

Saw your comment (again) and had to revisit. Still five stars! Maraska worked just as well as Luxardo for the maraschino and I used Edinburg Gin's Seaside, Dolin dry and Aperol this time.
Looking for a bottle of Luxardo Aperitivo. What, if I might ask did you use?

1 reply

Calvin Grant

2nd October at 02:46

LET THERE BE LIGHT... cocktails...ha ha ha. This one's a bit lighter than the equal parts Last Word. Excellent balance, suprisingly similar (considering the ingredients), and good to the last drop. (Let it warm up...brings out the flavor!)

Matt

8th September at 22:40

An excellent cocktail - IMO it falls short of a Last Word, but it is a delicious variant to have if you are out of your favorite green liqueur. And, given the name, it might be fun to have one of these, and follow with a Last Word, and compare and contrast the cocktails and the impact of the substitutes. The heavy pour of gin here does leave you with more prominent gin notes than an equal parts Last Word.

Juan Hatton

21st February at 20:56

No apertivo, subbed with 10ml Campari.
Changed dry for blanco to up the sweetness. I liked it, on my have again list.

Aidan O’Shea

6th January at 00:45

Dialed back the Luxardo, and wish I’d dialed it back a bit more.

Peter McCarthy

4th May 2024 at 01:05

Made this with Beefeater, Luxardo Maraschino, Dolin Dry, & Aperol. Very tasty! I got notes from the gin, spice/flavor of the maraschino liqueur, sweetness and herbal notes from the vermouth, orange-bitter from the Aperol, and of course lime. All well-balanced for my palate! Disappeared quickly. Definitely going to the top of my favorites.

Calvin Grant

2nd October at 02:21

I used these ingredients as well. The dry vermouth plus Aperol replaces the Chartreuse (same volume as the gin) and the reduced volume of the maraschino and lime complement them perfectly. Brilliant!

Yorey C

28th February 2024 at 05:53

Gordon's | Gallo ... tastes odd. smells like citrus, doesn't taste like it.

Yorey C

28th February 2024 at 06:00

made a bacardi special and it tastes weird in the same way, maybe i got bad limes or something

1 reply

Sebastian C

8th January 2024 at 02:59

To see whether it would work from a flavour comparability perspective, we experimented by using Empress Elderflower Rose Gin and were happy with the outcome.

Sebastian C

8th January 2024 at 03:15

When we (there were two of us) compared against the original recipe, the original is truer to the taste profile of a Last Word. There’s a subtle, but notable, difference with the gin we used (a bit more layered and interesting, flavour-wise). When the votes were tallied, the Empress variation came out victorious.

Florian Ruf

14th December 2023 at 15:31

This version is good, but IMHO it lacks body. Any suggestions out there to improve this?

Rémi Dejaeghère

12th January 2024 at 20:39

I personally improved texture on my shaken cocktails by using one big rock and 2/3 ice cubes for the shake (cf Liquid Intelligence by Dave Arnold, of course).

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