Name: Purgatory
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Rye whiskey 50% abv; 15 ml Bénédictine D.O.M.; 15 ml Chartreuse Green; 5 ml Chilled water; 2 drop Saline solution 4:1

Purgatory
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Glass:

Photographed in a Speakeasy Nick & Nora 4.75oz

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
¹⁄₂ oz	Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur
¹⁄₂ oz	Green Chartreuse (or alternative herbal liqueur)
¹⁄₆ oz	Chilled water omit if using wet ice
2 drop	Saline solution (20g sea salt to 80g water) or merest pinch of s optional

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.

How to make:

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

Garnish:

EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Too many and you're in it! This is a punchy, spirit-forward cocktail that was apparently created as a pick-me-up but is perhaps better suited as a (put-you-down) late-night nightcap.

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History:

Adapted from a recipe created in 2007 by Ted Kilgore at Taste in St. Louis, Missouri (or possibly Monarch Restaurant, Maplewood, Missouri). Ted's original recipe comprised 75ml (2½oz) Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey, 22.5 (¾oz) Bénédictine, 22.5 (¾oz) Green Chartreuse. Gary "gaz" Regan picked up on this cocktail soon after it was created and published the recipe in his column in The San Francisco Chronicle.

More cocktails by Ted Kilgore

Nutrition:

One serving of Purgatory contains 213 calories

Alcohol content:

2.2 standard drinks
36.39% alc./vol. (72.78° proof)
30.9 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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Mike

11th January at 17:22

About as complex as it gets, plus sweet and hot. If that sounds good to you, then you’ll love this drink.

I recommend the original spec of 1.5 rye, .5 each of Benedictine and Chartreuse. Definitely benefits from a long stir down (in which case, skip the water). The lemon twist is essential.

Agree that it could be served on a large ice cube with a shorter stir down

Loïc Pierre

25th September 2025 at 19:33

I'll join the opinion of John Hinojos : a strong, excellent evening sipping cocktail. I think it could also be enjoyed on the rocks.

Calvin Grant

20th July 2025 at 03:39

Two monastic spirits plus rye equals... PURGATORY! Ha Ha Ha! But seriously do try this. It may be better than excellent. ♡

Erik Maloney

27th June 2024 at 05:57

This one's delicious (reminds me distantly of a Preakness Manhattan); the three ingredients really bring out one another's spicy qualities, from the peppery bite of the rye to the subtler, sweeter herbal spice of the liqueurs. Could see it working well in a range of proportions, from heavier on the liqueurs to a drier mix.

Hunter Newsome

4th August 2023 at 20:26

I'm a fan of chartreuse and benedictine so I had to bump up both for more herbal digestive sweetness. I think 1-0.5-0.5 would be good in the Nick & Nora glass and 1.5-0.5-0.5 would be best on-the-rocks in an old-fashioned glass.

Deimos Ares

2nd June 2023 at 20:44

Very good!
Added a dash of Angostura bitters and spritzed absinthe on the glass

John Hinojos

8th July 2021 at 04:31

Excellent evening sipping cocktail. Not as sweet as I was expecting, but it does benefit from a long stir.

Tuber Magnatum

9th April 2021 at 23:07

I really enjoyed this. Your description of this as a put-you-down late-nightcap is right on though! Made the mistake of drinking this before dinner! :)