Final Ward

Masterful! The switch to rye appeals to me hugely, even though I used a budget rye for this one (a George Dickel chill filtered). The rye keeps spice in the profile and the maraschino and herbal liqueur (I used Luxardo Del Santo) blend deliciously to create a bittersweet cocktail that I think is making it into my shaker on a regular basis. The mix just seems to work for my palate without making me consider any changes.

I can sort of see the appeal of this, but it's not nearly as good as the Last Word for me. I'm not sure if it's the change to rye or the change to lemon.

Give it a try though, maybe it's just my tastes.

Tried this again prompted by recent email from Difford's Guide revisiting Simon's selection of the 20 best Maraschino Liqueur cocktails. I rated this excellent (5) the first time last year but made a note to try with upping the Bourbon which I did to 1oz. I will be changing rating to 5+!

If the last word variations with rhum has the peril of touching the edges of daiquiri, I am afraid -even when this is good-, is rubbing the Peninciline neighborhood -very different yes in the ingredients, but the taste is familiar-. In a way this travel of all the 'Last Words' is like those toys were you had Winnie the Poo disguised as tiger, as Kanga and as Roo. Every time it changes from Rhum, to Tequila, to Mezcal, to Whisky, is sort of a disguise party of each into being something familiar but different.

I did enjoy this, but will probably make it again and halve the Chartreuse and Luxardo and double the rye.

Last Word variants are almost full-proof, and this is works well. However, while I'm sure the rye is in there (I put it in myself) it is buried under the (delicous) green chartreuse and maraschino. Lemon brightens and lifts the drink acidity to better match the maraschino than the chartreuse without diminishing any of the chartreuse herb/spice complexity.

For us this was pleasant enough, if a bit one-dimensional. Things got a bit more interesting when we added a dash or two of grapefruit bitters.

Truly excellent. Perhaps more balanced than the OG?

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.

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.