New spirit adventures! My latest swap with friend Michael involved me giving him some excellent aged Rhum Agricole du Martinique (and a couple of accessories), and he gave me a healthy jar of Dolin Genepy le Chamois – a product of France’s eastern mountains.

Genepy le Chamois. Yes, it sounds like something I’d squeeze out of my cycling shorts, but it’s a delicious, herbal liqueur appropriately described as fitting in somewhere between Yellow Chartreuse and Green Chartreuse – flavor-wise, as well as color-wise.

So I looked for cocktails that called for the more aggressive of the Chartreuses (the green one). I enjoyed this a lot and it’s easy to make, with equal parts of the four ingredients. However, the lime juice really overpowered everything else. Delicious and refreshing, yes, but not a showcase for the Genepy. If you’re interested in the drink, I’d recommend sticking with the heartier Green Chartreuse and/or cutting back on the lime juice (to 1/2 or 1/4 oz – but don’t eliminate it entirely!) so it doesn’t eclipse the other flavors.

So next I’ll look through my recipes that call for the less pungent Yellow Chartreuse and see if the Genepy kicks them up a notch. 

DERNIER MOT

¾ oz Rhum Agricole

¾ oz Green Chartreuse (or Dolin Genepy le Chamois)

¾ oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

¾ oz Lime juice (fresh)

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled glass. Garnish with Luxardo Maraschino cherries. The parrot is optional.

ABOUT THE DRINK: I’m told that “Dernier Mot” is French for “last word,” and the classic Last Word is exactly the same recipe as this, but with gin instead of the Rhum Agricole. Rhum Agricole (literal translation: agricultural rum) is rum produced directly from the juice of sugarcane instead of molasses or other sugarcane byproducts, and it’s a French term because this method is primarily associated with the French islands in the Caribbean Sea (Martinique, in the case of Rhum J.M., which I use). Most rums are produced from molasses, which is neither better nor worse. The flavor notes are different, that’s all. Rhum Agricole is a bit lighter and grassier tasting than most molasses-based rums.