My Husband's Birthday Present

Every year, my husband and I have a three-day celebration. Well, the last two years we haven't actually been able to celebrate the way we'd like to because of my husband's work, but theoretically, we have three awesome days in a row where celebration is in order.

My birthday is August 19th and his birthday is August 21st (of the same year - I'm older!). We got married the day between, August 20th. See, three days of awesome.

I usually have a really tough time thinking of good gifts to get for my husband, which sucks a lot because he is such a good gift giver. Somehow, I've actually been on a bit of a roll for the last year and have had some great gift ideas for him. I even had some extra ideas, but I was worried about having them written down somewhere, so I forgot them! I was starting to get worried when August rolled around and I didn't have a gift idea, but then inspiration struck!

I don't remember the details, but my husband heard about a drink called The Last Word and was really interested to try it. It had a liqueur in it that neither of us had tried before, green Chartreuse. He kept saying that we needed to go get some at BevMo, but that never happened. A bit later, he was on a business trip and ordered a Last Word at a bar, and he liked it.

So, my idea for his gift was to finally get him a bottle of green Chartreuse. I didn't want to just buy him booze, so I went hunting online for the recipe for The Last Word and other cocktails he could make with the Chartreuse. I was having a hard time finding anything other that The Last Word that looked trustworthy, but then, I found some good recipes on Saveur (shared below). As I was going through the recipes, I noticed that most of the drinks used yellow Chartreuse, not green. The yellow Chartreuse is a bit harder to get (sells out quickly) and is supposed to be good for drinking by itself, so I decided to get him a bottle of the yellow Chartreuse too! I typed up recipe cards for six different drinks (including a photo of the drink to whet the appetite), laminated them, punched holes in the corner, and use a binder ring to keep them together.

I was really excited to give him this gift, and he loved it!

Here are the cocktail recipes I included in the gift. I'll add photos as we make them!

The Last Word

3/4 oz. gin
3/4 oz. green Chartreuse
3/4 oz. maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
Twist of lime for garnish

Vigorously shake all ingredients together with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime twist.

Champs-Elysees

1 oz. brandy
1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. simple syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters
Strip of lemon peel for garnish

Shake all ingredients together with ice. Strain into a well-chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon peel.

Greenpoint

2 oz. rye whiskey
1 oz. sweet vermouth
1 tsp. yellow Chartreuse
1 dash Angostura bitters

Mix all ingredients in a shaker with ice; stir to chill. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Eureka Punch

2 oz. Caribbean-style amber rum
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
3/4 oz. yellow Chartreuse
1 Tbsp. honey mixed with 1 Tbsp. water
1 dash Angostura bitters
2 oz. ginger ale
1 lemon wedge for garnish
1 sprig of mint for garnish

Shake all ingredient together with ice until chilled. Strain into a Collins glass filled with ice cubes. Top with ginger ale. Garnish with lemon and mint.

The Beauty Spot

2 oz. gin
1 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. green Chartreuse
Orange twist for garnish

Combine all ingredient with ice in a shaker. Stir the mixture thoroughly and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

The Lumiere

1 1/2 oz. gin
1 oz. elderflower liqueur
3/4 oz. green Chartreuse
Dash of orange bitters
Lime twist for garnish

Combine all ingredient in a shaker with ice; stir thoroughly. Strain the mixture into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime twist