Except that 'natural philosophy' is what we called science before we called it that. And Parmenides was all about, not natural philosophy but, ontology, the philosophy of being. But, as I say, lovely cocktail.

A delicious cocktail but surely there's a better way to achieve the desired sweetness other than by the slosh of 20ml rich sugar syrup? I'm thinking of my great aunt Mafeking and her diabetes. We hauled the syrup back to 10ml.

Used a sweeter chartreuse substitute (Boomsma Kloosterbitter) and dialed the simple back to 15ml. Deliciously complex and flows wonderfully from the cognac to the chardonnay to the chartreuse to the absinthe.

A little sweet; I think I'd go for 10ml simple tops next time.

Made again but this time swapped the cognac for a barrel aged chilean pisco (Alto Del Carmen) and L.N.Mattei Cap Corse Quinquina aromatized wine for the Chardonnay and cut back on the syrup. Perhaps a different beast but quite nice!

Had to substitute 5 ml. Sambuco for the Absinthe, and failed to reduce the syrup to compensate, but still very impressive indeed. How the Chartreuse shines through!

Delightfully tart. Very flavourful anytime cocktail. Perfectly balanced with the hints of herbal from the Chartreuse and the absinthe.

Wonderful subtle complexity. The absinthe sits well with the Green Chartreuse. Neither dominate. I used a California Gewurztraminer (Fetzer) which added a tiny spicy flavour. Another favorite.