You know, there's a couple of other cocktail Formula's I could cover, maybe this should be a series? Check out my podcast! www.youtube.com/@UC9K0o4kyzEF0cGYRIdZn3yQ or wherever you get your podcasts: bit.ly/MidnightLocal Curiada: bit.ly/yellowstoneshipsfree Yellowstone: www.yellowstonebourbon.com Ice Shaver: amzn.to/44JZNpk Twitch: bit.ly/2VsOi3d H2D2: bit.ly/YTH2D2 twitter: bit.ly/H2DTwit instagram: bit.ly/H2dIG Blog: bit.ly/H2DBlog Patreon: bit.ly/H2DPatreon Gear: amzn.to/2LeQCbW The Last Word: ruclips.net/video/WaZb_BSy4dI/видео.html What would the Golden Girls drink: ruclips.net/video/Kj8gu_kRSpE/видео.html Final Ward: ruclips.net/video/Lxs2-D7OPm0/видео.html
Hi Greg. I was wondering if you take requests for video ideas, if not, no harm done. I am asking if you would be able to concote a cocktail of my own creation, called a "Dead Man's Glory" and put it in a video and tell me what you think of it. The recipe is below : 1 oz black absinthe 1 1/2 oz cognac 2 1/2 oz vodka It is all stirred over ice and then served in a short tumbler with the same ice Thank you
I think a follow-up episode where you draw at random the base spirit, sweet liquor, and herbal liquor (dealers' choice on the sour) from the skull would really put this theory to the test. Bonus points if Meredith picks the bottles.
Whoa, this is low-key a hugely vital episode of H2D. I can’t wait to try this out with the random bottles of sweet and herbal liqueurs I’ve accumulated over the years. Thanks Greg and Meredith for continuing to expand my knowledge in fun ways!
I think to truly test this you need to randomize the ingredient for every category and see howbit turns out (and then do that a couple of more times), and maybe even purpsoely go for a combination you think has the least chance of working to truly push the limit
I tried this with stuff I grabbed: 1 part calvados, 1 part lemon, 1 part rainwater madeira, 1 part amaro di angostura. It tastes exactly like a molasses cookie. Like a gingerbread man, or a joe frogger. Naturally, I dubbed it "the last crumb."
It's episodes like this that remind me "I film an episodic series where we make and discuss drinks" Sounds better than "I get drunk by myself in my garage"
I think a cool idea for a video based on the Chains of America series would be to try and build drinks to a price point or a certain ABV and see if it's possible to make good drinks on a chain restaurant's profit margin.
Easiest thing to do in the service industry is make drinks that you can sell at a decent profit margin fwiw. Lots of places make their real money off drinks
Just started a new job and for some reason Greg's "sometimes you gotta make things that are bad, you can't be afraid of that" is hitting different. Thanks for all the great work you folks do!
So this is basically the foundation of my favorite local bar. It's run by the chef-owner, and he makes everything up on the fly based on any request you can give him. He described it as balancing sweet, sour, and bitter flavors. I've had everything from "Walking Through an Apple Orchard in the Fall" to "The Drink You'd Make Johnny Cash If He Walked Through the Door Right Now." It's a ton of fun to try out so many unique drinks, and they never disappoint. The formula really is just magic.
If you continue with this formula in a future piece, I would suggest to „stress test“ it more by making the combinations more random and look what happens when we stray further from tried and true flavor profiles.
Would love to see more formulas or more of this formula, I'll be testing the bounds with Malort as the Herbal. Also always love to see a ranger Greg adspot.
This template is fantastic, when you find a mix you're liking it can often pay off big time to work a little on adjusting each amount in stead of using 1:1:1:1 straight up. Sometimes a 1/4oz reduction in something can really turn a drink from decent to amazing.
My husband and I decided take this to it's logical conclusion, picking bottles at absolute random, with less than zero regard to pairing. Still made two solid drinks. It was fascinating. For those curious: Mine: London dry gin, velvet falernum, amaro Montenegro, and lime Husband: Caribbean rum, amber roots, amaro Montenegro, and lemon. Both were delicious. 😂
So, I made a community bar at my apartment for my friends, to drink from it, bring a bottle of something and when we host parties, everyone can use everything we have to make drinks we couldn't afford if we went out to drink It's gone beautifully, my community bar is better stocked than most bars I've gone to because of this (you honestly inspired this during lockdowns and I thank you dearly for it) But I lost the urge to keep running it because I would end up making the drinks, and ran myself into the ground one night as I had the biggest party yet last year and spent the whole ass night making drinks Now this has reinvigorated a tremendous fire in me for this and to set it up to just make it brain dead easy for my friends to make their own drinks and I just need to sort the ingredients for people, so thank you so so so much for this
This is such a useful episode for folks branching out in cocktails. I love this sort of theory and methods stuff (I'm obliged to, as an academic). I'd love to see you dive into more Caribbean ingredients, Greg -- I just picked up a bottle of Creole shrubb and it's amazing, but I'm not sure what all to do with it, aside pair it with Plantation Five Star! We've got a lot of interesting flavours down here and I'd love to see what you as a rum guy find tasty.
Can confirm! This absolutely works. Went to my cabinet and pulled: Lairds Apple Brandy (100 proof) Mary Brizard Apricot Liqour Bjork (Icelandic Birch liqour) Lemon. result: A perfectly serviceable drink and the start of something very cool with a few tweaks. Well balanced, nice notes of Autumn. Birch was a little lost but it’s an old bottle that’s been open for a while. I bet a fresh bottle would shine through much better. Definitely going to pull this trick out in the future when I’m not sure what I’d like to drink or if I’m missing ingredients for set recipes.
I think it's cool when you can take something seemingly complex, like mixology, and find a tried and true formula for it. It can be daunting getting into mixology, and this hypothesis of yours makes it feel approachable and doable regardless of skill level or personal tastes. Also, Ranger Greg is back! Yay!
As a bartender I’d say YES, this is basically how you do it. Pick your format, get some new components, balance things out. My two favorite cocktails of mine on current menus have no infusions, it’s a very juicy Negroni riff and a Paper Plane riff, both with Baijiu, neither of which contain any of the traditional ingredients to their source.
Great to see you back, I hope all is well! I just tried this with seemingly random stuff - Appleton Estate 12Y, Lemon juice, Italicus and Cynar. It came out quite tart and bitter and one dimensional, until I added a barspoon of simple; suddenly it's bright and herbal and complex! You're onto something, greart video!
On some episode, you said something about how if you know what you are doing, you can sub any part of the Last Word and get something good, and I'm glad my interpretation of, "Equal parts Citrus, base spirit, sweet liquor and herbal liquor" was correct. It's become my go-to bartending party trick. Now, I think I gotta get adventurous.
Whelp, my first try at this proved a winner. Aquavit, orange curacao, pisco and lemon. It's bright, herbal, citrisy and delicious. Could use a barspoon of simple syrup to balance it but it's very good. Surprising as I've had a lot of these just sitting on my shelf.
It's not episode specific but I really appreciate how you talk about cocktails. You know a lot, love the art form, and aren't pretentious and judgmental
Excellent video, thanks Greg! One more data point for the hypothesis using what’s on my shelf: The Last Llama 1 Oz Pisco 1 Oz Cherry Heering 1 Oz Braulio Amaro 1 Oz lemon juice Came out great, as predicted!
I’ll be turning 21 in a few months and honestly I am really excited to make some crazy shit like this, taking formulas and making my own spin on them. Truly a genius idea.
Remember to stay hydrated, and the best way to avoid hangovers is drinking LOTS of water. Stay with home drinking until you get a tolerance to be safe, so you don't get knocked out drunk at a bar, which is dangerous for 100 reasons.
Seconding the hydration tip, it still saves me from bad day afters. Also, when you’re going out to bars WATCH YOUR DRINK. I don’t care who you are or what you look like, everyone needs to watch their drink, and watch their friends drink. Stay safe and unhungover 🎉
Just to add, start slow, especially with spirits. You can have one alcoholic drink in a night and have a great night, you’ll know when you’re wanting and able to increase!
That formula is the first thing I figured out when making my first corpse reviver No.2 ---- it is so fun to make up new drinks on the fly at friends house with whatever they have using it --- they think you are amazing because you can make up brand new drinks with almost whatever they have in their bar and come up with some really neat tastes!
I've been using this formula since I saw one of your older videos. I made a delicious baijiu cocktail. I think the choice of baiju is super important. For cocktails, I always use Ming River which is super palatable with funky jackfruit/bubblegum notes. 1 Part Ming River Baiju 1 Part lime 1 Part chartreuse 3/4 part velvet falernum 1/4 part Midori
2 ounces of MTN Dew summer breeze, 3 ounces of Malibu pineapple rum (you can sub out the rum for pineapple vodka), 2 ounces of fresh lemonade. I call it the Blue Dream and its amazing! shake with caution or stir thoroughly.
You need to do this again with something other than Lemon and Lime -- try: - Calamansi: a small green citrus fruit that tastes similar to a sour orange or sweeter lime - Grapefruit: a large tropical citrus fruit with a sour, slightly bitter flavor - Kumquats: small orange fruits with a sour-sweet flavor and edible peel - Oranges: Maybe too sweet or maybe source orange - Pomelo: a very large citrus fruit that’s yellow when fully ripe and tastes similar to grapefruit but less bitter
I just used a very similar formula for a drink at my bar last week! I was originally going for a riff on a boulevardier, but ended up closer to a paper plane: 1 oz bourbon 1 oz dry vermouth 1 oz aperol .5 oz lemon juice .5 oz strawberry syrup
There are a few fundamental truths of cocktails. Today, Greg has discovered one: Sours Are Good. Ultimately, these all work because they're all 2:1:1 sours, and that formula pretty much always works. Love the idea proposed below of a wheel episode to really push this theory. Would also encourage you to test my theory that any good stirred drink can become a great flip. Make the Hard Start into a flip and it tastes like mint chocolate chip ice cream.
This really hits on something big! It makes me think of some cooking fundamentals too, epitomised by Chinese cuisine, particularly fish fragrant sauce. Can be mixed with anything (very commonly aubergine and no fish to be seen - the name has historical fermentation reasons) it boils down to this incredible ratio of sugar, vinegar and fermented bean sauce, so a perfect balance of spice, funk, sweet and sour. It has to be up there with the most delicious things ever and I highly recommend anyone try if you haven't, Fuscia Dunlop's recipe is amazing and it's way too easy to be that delicious, you'll feel like a pro. But I think you're onto the same idea! There's just a combination of flavours and aromas that hit perfectly pretty much every time! Coooooool ep, Greg you are an evil genius :)
In college I came up with a cocktail that featured Goldschlager and unsweetened cherry juice. Strangely, while it was very tasty as a 6th drink, it was undrinkable as a first drink.
Just made one with 1.5 parts bourbon, 1 part amaro, 1 part maraschino, and 1 part lemon juice. I added a bit more simple syrup and lemon juice but honestly worked out wonderfully! Going to try to procure some other herbal and sweet liquors to try this out with.
Something like a cursed drinks episode based on this formula would be very interesting to watch. I wonder if the magic formula accounts for Kaoliang Wine.
I don't remember which one, but I'm pretty sure that he did make something at least passable following the last word's formula. But I agree that trying to really push this would make for an interesting episode.
Grabbed some random bottles from my shelf and made: The Last Jellybean - Cognac, Creme de Cassis, Lime Juice, Absinthe. Followed the formula exactly. What an amazing drink!!
Love the concept and I look forward to trying it with my limited stock. I want to try a cocktail with gin, pomegranate liqueur, grapefruit juice, and angostura bitters. Edit: I am counting the bitters as my herbal liqueur. I hope you don't mind.
I love this theory!! I’ve used it several times, my favorite recipe being a fraternal twin to the last word… 1 oz each of lemon, gin, yellow chart and st Germ. Super freakin tasty.
This is the thing that finally gets me making my own cocktails at home. My shaker has been sitting unused on the shelf for almost 6 years (because I'm lazy and don't know any good drinks) but it seems like you really can't mess this up.
Have you ever come back to these recipes while sober? Curious if they still have the “shock and awe”. Keep it up Greg still my favorite channel to watch, even after all these years.❤
Well I only have some rye whiskey, Jager, and kahlua. Orange bitters is the closest I have to a sour, so let’s see what a Revolver with Jaeger tastes like! Edit: Yoooooooo! You’re on to something. This is great. I did 1 oz whiskey, .5 each Jaeger and kahlua, 3 dashes orange bitters. Next time I’ll do more whiskey and less kahlua
This is a great hypothesis to follow. In the bar when i'm making a new drink i do 3/4:1:3/4:1 to your same formula. The little less citrus and herbal liquer gives you a great base and wiggle room to change it.
My favorite variations are a split base last word with funky Jamaican rum and a smoky mescal and the industry sour: equal parts lime, symple, Frenet Branca, Green Chartreuse
I came up with a cocktail a few months ago based on this premise that was Mezcal, Passoa, Ancho Reyes Chili liqueur, and citrus (I haven't decided which i like best but i, or passion fruit juice... but I think lime.)
I would love a video based on bitters. there are so many types anymore. I try and experiment but there are so many! especially the sampler packs you can get. I want to try more but I get intimidated
i feel like i'm obligated to share this here given the formula of the episode, but a couple months back i wanted to try a last word. the bar i was at didn't have green chartreuse or maraschino liqueuer, so instead we substituted amara montenegro and grenadine respectively, and it was really good!! the bartender and i named it the final word. i've since tried it with using maraschino instead of grenadine as well as splitting that part halfway between maraschino and grenadine (i tend to make the drink with the equal portions being 1 or 1.5 oz each, so the maraschino and grenadine would each be 0.5 or 0.75 oz for that version). ultimately i think i still like that original version with the montenegro and grenadine substitutions the best, and i've made it for friends and they all liked it a lot as well. it's one of those drinks that's a little dangerous cause it's quite tasty. i recommend trying it out!
Another classic ratio that I learned from a video called "Vermouth in Cocktails" with Jamie Boudreau. 1.5 oz brown spirit, 0.75 oz vermouth style aperitif, 0.25 oz amaro or other modifier. Works pretty well, but you might want to steer clear of certain modifiers like, say, Fernet.
This is my favorite episode of How to Drink! I live in Utah where we're at the mercy of the limited selection in state-owned liquor stores, but this formula just works.
I was sent this video by a friend. First time viewer. Went right out and got a bottle of Plantation Pineapple Rum. The Last Drink is excellent. I think for me I need to have less Chartreuse but I didn't realize that until I made it so I added some more creme de banana and that was good. Thanks for these ideas!
Just tested it with Lime, grand marnier for sweet, jaegermeister for herbal (although plenty sweet) and spice tree blended scotch. Turned out great, like a herbal whisky sour.
So I combined this formula with the idea of rolling dice to determine what to use and I've gotten some great combos! I only have lemons right now so they all use lemon as citrus Gin/cherry heering/Aperol (I did an absinthe rinse with this one) Applejack/orange liqueur/Amaro Montenegro Absinthe/Mr. Black/Metcalfe's raspberry liqueur (this one needs some tweaking since the absinthe comes through really strongly, but it was way better than I expected) Whiskey/Th. Kramers Aromatique Bitters/Metcalfe's Raspberry Liqueur - this one was excellent
Gotta be one of the best HTD episodes! I just love how Greg gets all giddy with the whole concept and inventing all these new cool ass drinks. Wanna try all of these now for sure!
I decided to test the theory with pineapple rum, luxardo cherry, amaro, and lime. It was sweet and tangy and then it lead into a chocolate note. This is amazing
my friend, you just gave me a lot of work to do (separate my liquors into herby vs sweet) and trying all sorts of concoctions with hopefully happy outcomes as shown in this video! thanks!
There is an old Punch rhyme: "One part Sour, Two of Sweet, Three of Strong (liquor), And Four of Weak (often wine, bubbles or even tea!) And "a touch of spice makes 5"
Heres one. A guy from the Federal Theater Project made a youtube video on the 1930s Yankee Doodle cocktail. He talked mostly about the George M Cohen show of the same name. Anyway the version of the drink he had was: crush 5 green grapes & a couple slices of ginger. Pour crushed mixture with its juices into a shaker with half a teaspoon of sugar & 1.5 ounces of grape vodka. Shake then strain into a glass with ice cracked or crushed and garnish with a shish kebob of raspberries and blue berries on a toothpick.
I've been doing a lot of experimenting along these same lines, but without the herbal note. Just liquor, sweetener and bittering agent. If you really want a yummy way to sweeten, get your hands on some Barenjager. Its a German honey liquor. So good can drink it by itself, but is amazing when using as a mixer.
I just came over from my usual, no channel account to comment. I decided to play with this tonight with what I had on hand and it worked! First up: Smokey cupreata mezcal, goldschlager, alpenbitters, and lime juice. Nice. Would drink again. Next: Pear eau-de-vie, absinthe, butter ripple schnapps (don't come for me), and lemon juice. Ok. Needs tweaking. The pear is only on the nose a bit, then disappears. Very cool. I'll be playing with this ratio!
This was such a fun video and this definitely gives me some ideas for bottles I have sitting around. I've used the "Old Fashioned" formula to start with for easy cocktails and this "Last Word" formula I think is a nice level up. I appreciate this video, thank you Greg!
Thank you for using hypothesis instead of theory. I know it's not a world shattering issue, and I don't hate anyone who think they are interchangeable. But it does make my brain happy when it is done correctly. That is all.
I was so excited to try out a Last Gasp after work, but I completely forgot I had run out of tequila. I substituted bourbon, and wouldn't you know it, I still ended up with an extremely refreshing cocktail. This formula rules.
I must say this is an incredible an necessary show as to he lack of a more educational or thought worthy episode as of recent with all the toying of terrible drinks. Well done with hopes for more!
I would love to see a retrospective and revisiting of some of your favorite accidental masterpieces. The Last Latitude would be great to see a refining of, for instance
literally used this formula with a manhattan (which I do not like), and it produced a drink I very much like, equal parts rye, sweet vermouth, lemon juice and grand marnier
After watching a lot of episodes and trying cocktails that sounded interesting while out I convinced my wife to let me buy some bottles and start mixing my own drinks at home. Had to share that I went with The Last Drink for my first recipe and while I subbed Dolin Genepy because I wasn't able to grab Chartreuse locally, it was still the most fantastic drink I've ever had. You really knocked it out of the park with this one Greg! Cheers!
I just tested this out with random bottles that I had lying around: bourbon, creme de menthe, Fernet Branca, and lemon juice. I don't even like fernet, but it works.
I’m a newbie to bartending, but I’m gradually improving. Decided to make The Last Nail tonight for some friends and was told it was one of the best drinks they’d ever had. Thanks Greg!
Just tried equal parts Campari Gin Lemon Juice Liquor 43 Had to add a bit of simple syrup, but dang, it’s surprisingly good, with a lot of evolution. Lemon and the floral bits of the gin hit early, then the vanilla from the L43, and finally the bitterness and herbs from the Campari. I think if I make this again, I’ll try acid adjusting orange juice to essentially turn this into a creamsicle.
Nuts you say? Alright, I had to try after I watched it. Hear me out. 1 oz Redbreast 12 1 oz Maraschino 1 oz Chartreuse 1 oz lime juice It's definitely a combination that I would never had tried if I hadn't been influenced by Greg, but I really like it.
You know, there's a couple of other cocktail Formula's I could cover, maybe this should be a series?
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Hi Greg. I was wondering if you take requests for video ideas, if not, no harm done. I am asking if you would be able to concote a cocktail of my own creation, called a "Dead Man's Glory" and put it in a video and tell me what you think of it. The recipe is below :
1 oz black absinthe
1 1/2 oz cognac
2 1/2 oz vodka
It is all stirred over ice and then served in a short tumbler with the same ice
Thank you
I'd like a series for sure
I think a follow-up episode where you draw at random the base spirit, sweet liquor, and herbal liquor (dealers' choice on the sour) from the skull would really put this theory to the test. Bonus points if Meredith picks the bottles.
please id love a series like this. i enjoy recipes and whatnot but formulas and drink philosophy? now thats awesome
Whoa, this is low-key a hugely vital episode of H2D. I can’t wait to try this out with the random bottles of sweet and herbal liqueurs I’ve accumulated over the years. Thanks Greg and Meredith for continuing to expand my knowledge in fun ways!
I am on the same page as you. This is exactly what I needed to use stuff in my bar
Couldn't say it better!
It's essential just adding another archetype to the cocktail codex.
I think to truly test this you need to randomize the ingredient for every category and see howbit turns out (and then do that a couple of more times), and maybe even purpsoely go for a combination you think has the least chance of working to truly push the limit
Yes! Another wheel-spinning episode would be great for this, or do another matrix
Scotch, crème de violette, braulio, Lime
Cursed or blessed? Let’s find out Greg
Gin, lime acid adjusted grapefruit juice, italicus, malort
Exactly what I came to say. Gotta take all the thought out of it or at least go hard against instinct.
Greg can make 4 separate lists, maybe even put 20 ingredients on each list. Then break out his D&D dice, roll 4d20 and then see where the night goes.
I tried this with stuff I grabbed: 1 part calvados, 1 part lemon, 1 part rainwater madeira, 1 part amaro di angostura. It tastes exactly like a molasses cookie. Like a gingerbread man, or a joe frogger. Naturally, I dubbed it "the last crumb."
It's episodes like this that remind me "I film an episodic series where we make and discuss drinks" Sounds better than "I get drunk by myself in my garage"
“The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.” - Adam Savage
but also, Meredith!
I think a cool idea for a video based on the Chains of America series would be to try and build drinks to a price point or a certain ABV and see if it's possible to make good drinks on a chain restaurant's profit margin.
Yes.
Easiest thing to do in the service industry is make drinks that you can sell at a decent profit margin fwiw. Lots of places make their real money off drinks
This would be really cool
I'd call this the Chains That Bind series, let's go!
I love the HtD episodes when Greg is absolutely PISSED drunk. Those last shaker moves were a piece of art
😂 true, true.
Love the fact that he questioned what he put into the last drink
Crazy seeing you here, love your work!!
@@skeeter5076 thanks mate!
VIEWS FOR THE VIEWS GOD
Professional Drunk. 😁
Just started a new job and for some reason Greg's "sometimes you gotta make things that are bad, you can't be afraid of that" is hitting different. Thanks for all the great work you folks do!
So this is basically the foundation of my favorite local bar. It's run by the chef-owner, and he makes everything up on the fly based on any request you can give him. He described it as balancing sweet, sour, and bitter flavors.
I've had everything from "Walking Through an Apple Orchard in the Fall" to "The Drink You'd Make Johnny Cash If He Walked Through the Door Right Now." It's a ton of fun to try out so many unique drinks, and they never disappoint. The formula really is just magic.
Finally back after a (short) hiatus, AND it's a Last Word episode?? Truly this is a blessed day.
If you continue with this formula in a future piece, I would suggest to „stress test“ it more by making the combinations more random and look what happens when we stray further from tried and true flavor profiles.
Kaoliang baijiu, grapefruit juice, Chambord royale and Jagermeister.
I second this. Do a matrix system and even include "THOSE" spirits that you hate.
@@Zzyzzyzzsyou can't feed that to people, that would cause... Death
Random ingredient wheel?
Or get the D&D guys, and make some dicey cocktails! 😁
I remember that you made that "good" or passable cocktail with kaoling liquor and technically followed that formula from here
Would love to see more formulas or more of this formula, I'll be testing the bounds with Malort as the Herbal. Also always love to see a ranger Greg adspot.
This template is fantastic, when you find a mix you're liking it can often pay off big time to work a little on adjusting each amount in stead of using 1:1:1:1 straight up. Sometimes a 1/4oz reduction in something can really turn a drink from decent to amazing.
Another good starting point, 2 oz spirit, 3/4 oz sweetener, then 3/4 oz citrus -or- 1/2 oz bitter.
My husband and I decided take this to it's logical conclusion, picking bottles at absolute random, with less than zero regard to pairing. Still made two solid drinks. It was fascinating. For those curious:
Mine: London dry gin, velvet falernum, amaro Montenegro, and lime
Husband: Caribbean rum, amber roots, amaro Montenegro, and lemon.
Both were delicious. 😂
So, I made a community bar at my apartment for my friends, to drink from it, bring a bottle of something and when we host parties, everyone can use everything we have to make drinks we couldn't afford if we went out to drink
It's gone beautifully, my community bar is better stocked than most bars I've gone to because of this
(you honestly inspired this during lockdowns and I thank you dearly for it)
But I lost the urge to keep running it because I would end up making the drinks, and ran myself into the ground one night as I had the biggest party yet last year and spent the whole ass night making drinks
Now this has reinvigorated a tremendous fire in me for this and to set it up to just make it brain dead easy for my friends to make their own drinks and I just need to sort the ingredients for people, so thank you so so so much for this
Ah yes the curse of the forever bartender, like the forever DM. I'm in the same boat.
Yo this sounds like an awesome idea and experience. Good luck!
This is such a useful episode for folks branching out in cocktails. I love this sort of theory and methods stuff (I'm obliged to, as an academic). I'd love to see you dive into more Caribbean ingredients, Greg -- I just picked up a bottle of Creole shrubb and it's amazing, but I'm not sure what all to do with it, aside pair it with Plantation Five Star! We've got a lot of interesting flavours down here and I'd love to see what you as a rum guy find tasty.
Can confirm!
This absolutely works. Went to my cabinet and pulled:
Lairds Apple Brandy (100 proof)
Mary Brizard Apricot Liqour
Bjork (Icelandic Birch liqour)
Lemon.
result: A perfectly serviceable drink and the start of something very cool with a few tweaks. Well balanced, nice notes of Autumn. Birch was a little lost but it’s an old bottle that’s been open for a while. I bet a fresh bottle would shine through much better.
Definitely going to pull this trick out in the future when I’m not sure what I’d like to drink or if I’m missing ingredients for set recipes.
“Am I drunk and out of my mind? Yes.”
This is the Greg we love
That drink building sequence was an experience XD
Any episode with Ranger Greg is, by default, a good episode. This, though, also has SCIENCE Greg, and is thus a great episode.
I think it's cool when you can take something seemingly complex, like mixology, and find a tried and true formula for it. It can be daunting getting into mixology, and this hypothesis of yours makes it feel approachable and doable regardless of skill level or personal tastes.
Also, Ranger Greg is back! Yay!
As a bartender I’d say YES, this is basically how you do it.
Pick your format, get some new components, balance things out.
My two favorite cocktails of mine on current menus have no infusions, it’s a very juicy Negroni riff and a Paper Plane riff, both with Baijiu, neither of which contain any of the traditional ingredients to their source.
Great to see you back, I hope all is well! I just tried this with seemingly random stuff - Appleton Estate 12Y, Lemon juice, Italicus and Cynar. It came out quite tart and bitter and one dimensional, until I added a barspoon of simple; suddenly it's bright and herbal and complex! You're onto something, greart video!
Cynar and italicus are both herbal liqueurs. So you didn't quite follow his theory.
@@SaturoG it is predominately sweet and citrusy. The drambuie in the video also contains many herbs and worked great, apparently
On some episode, you said something about how if you know what you are doing, you can sub any part of the Last Word and get something good, and I'm glad my interpretation of, "Equal parts Citrus, base spirit, sweet liquor and herbal liquor" was correct. It's become my go-to bartending party trick. Now, I think I gotta get adventurous.
Whelp, my first try at this proved a winner. Aquavit, orange curacao, pisco and lemon. It's bright, herbal, citrisy and delicious. Could use a barspoon of simple syrup to balance it but it's very good. Surprising as I've had a lot of these just sitting on my shelf.
It's not episode specific but I really appreciate how you talk about cocktails. You know a lot, love the art form, and aren't pretentious and judgmental
Excellent video, thanks Greg! One more data point for the hypothesis using what’s on my shelf: The Last Llama
1 Oz Pisco
1 Oz Cherry Heering
1 Oz Braulio Amaro
1 Oz lemon juice
Came out great, as predicted!
I’ll be turning 21 in a few months and honestly I am really excited to make some crazy shit like this, taking formulas and making my own spin on them. Truly a genius idea.
Remember to stay hydrated, and the best way to avoid hangovers is drinking LOTS of water. Stay with home drinking until you get a tolerance to be safe, so you don't get knocked out drunk at a bar, which is dangerous for 100 reasons.
Seconding the hydration tip, it still saves me from bad day afters. Also, when you’re going out to bars WATCH YOUR DRINK. I don’t care who you are or what you look like, everyone needs to watch their drink, and watch their friends drink. Stay safe and unhungover 🎉
Just to add, start slow, especially with spirits. You can have one alcoholic drink in a night and have a great night, you’ll know when you’re wanting and able to increase!
That formula is the first thing I figured out when making my first corpse reviver No.2 ---- it is so fun to make up new drinks on the fly at friends house with whatever they have using it --- they think you are amazing because you can make up brand new drinks with almost whatever they have in their bar and come up with some really neat tastes!
I've been using this formula since I saw one of your older videos. I made a delicious baijiu cocktail. I think the choice of baiju is super important. For cocktails, I always use Ming River which is super palatable with funky jackfruit/bubblegum notes.
1 Part Ming River Baiju
1 Part lime
1 Part chartreuse
3/4 part velvet falernum
1/4 part Midori
2 ounces of MTN Dew summer breeze, 3 ounces of Malibu pineapple rum (you can sub out the rum for pineapple vodka), 2 ounces of fresh lemonade. I call it the Blue Dream and its amazing! shake with caution or stir thoroughly.
You need to do this again with something other than Lemon and Lime -- try:
- Calamansi: a small green citrus fruit that tastes similar to a sour orange or sweeter lime
- Grapefruit: a large tropical citrus fruit with a sour, slightly bitter flavor
- Kumquats: small orange fruits with a sour-sweet flavor and edible peel
- Oranges: Maybe too sweet or maybe source orange
- Pomelo: a very large citrus fruit that’s yellow when fully ripe and tastes similar to grapefruit but less bitter
I just used a very similar formula for a drink at my bar last week! I was originally going for a riff on a boulevardier, but ended up closer to a paper plane:
1 oz bourbon
1 oz dry vermouth
1 oz aperol
.5 oz lemon juice
.5 oz strawberry syrup
There are a few fundamental truths of cocktails. Today, Greg has discovered one: Sours Are Good. Ultimately, these all work because they're all 2:1:1 sours, and that formula pretty much always works.
Love the idea proposed below of a wheel episode to really push this theory. Would also encourage you to test my theory that any good stirred drink can become a great flip. Make the Hard Start into a flip and it tastes like mint chocolate chip ice cream.
This really hits on something big! It makes me think of some cooking fundamentals too, epitomised by Chinese cuisine, particularly fish fragrant sauce. Can be mixed with anything (very commonly aubergine and no fish to be seen - the name has historical fermentation reasons) it boils down to this incredible ratio of sugar, vinegar and fermented bean sauce, so a perfect balance of spice, funk, sweet and sour. It has to be up there with the most delicious things ever and I highly recommend anyone try if you haven't, Fuscia Dunlop's recipe is amazing and it's way too easy to be that delicious, you'll feel like a pro. But I think you're onto the same idea! There's just a combination of flavours and aromas that hit perfectly pretty much every time! Coooooool ep, Greg you are an evil genius :)
I’d really trust Meredith’s perspective on these over drunk Greg alone.
In college I came up with a cocktail that featured Goldschlager and unsweetened cherry juice. Strangely, while it was very tasty as a 6th drink, it was undrinkable as a first drink.
Just made one with 1.5 parts bourbon, 1 part amaro, 1 part maraschino, and 1 part lemon juice. I added a bit more simple syrup and lemon juice but honestly worked out wonderfully! Going to try to procure some other herbal and sweet liquors to try this out with.
Something like a cursed drinks episode based on this formula would be very interesting to watch. I wonder if the magic formula accounts for Kaoliang Wine.
I don't remember which one, but I'm pretty sure that he did make something at least passable following the last word's formula. But I agree that trying to really push this would make for an interesting episode.
I just found a drink with malort that uses this recipe. Grapefruit juice, four roses, disaronno, malort
Grabbed some random bottles from my shelf and made: The Last Jellybean - Cognac, Creme de Cassis, Lime Juice, Absinthe. Followed the formula exactly. What an amazing drink!!
I tried it out. White rum, lime juice, Creme de Violette, Limoncello. Surprisingly good.
Love the concept and I look forward to trying it with my limited stock. I want to try a cocktail with gin, pomegranate liqueur, grapefruit juice, and angostura bitters. Edit: I am counting the bitters as my herbal liqueur. I hope you don't mind.
I love this theory!! I’ve used it several times, my favorite recipe being a fraternal twin to the last word…
1 oz each of lemon, gin, yellow chart and st Germ.
Super freakin tasty.
So I think part of why this works so well is that you’re starting with the 2-1-1 sour ratio, but then splitting the spirit with a dry liqueur.
"blank-for-zero" is an awfully drunken way to express an undefeated record, Greg
This is the thing that finally gets me making my own cocktails at home. My shaker has been sitting unused on the shelf for almost 6 years (because I'm lazy and don't know any good drinks) but it seems like you really can't mess this up.
Have you ever come back to these recipes while sober? Curious if they still have the “shock and awe”. Keep it up Greg still my favorite channel to watch, even after all these years.❤
The Yellowstone Bourbon ad might be the best RUclips ad I’ve ever seen
Well I only have some rye whiskey, Jager, and kahlua. Orange bitters is the closest I have to a sour, so let’s see what a Revolver with Jaeger tastes like!
Edit: Yoooooooo! You’re on to something. This is great. I did 1 oz whiskey, .5 each Jaeger and kahlua, 3 dashes orange bitters. Next time I’ll do more whiskey and less kahlua
This is a great hypothesis to follow. In the bar when i'm making a new drink i do 3/4:1:3/4:1 to your same formula. The little less citrus and herbal liquer gives you a great base and wiggle room to change it.
I love it when people properly distinguish a hypothesis from a theory!
Also, I can't wait to play around with this formula.
My favorite variations are a split base last word with funky Jamaican rum and a smoky mescal and the industry sour: equal parts lime, symple, Frenet Branca, Green Chartreuse
Mad scientist Greg is hands down my favourite Greg. From the deranged genius that brought us ango ice cream, comes The Formula.
Extra credit for correct use of Hypothesis and Theory
I came up with a cocktail a few months ago based on this premise that was Mezcal, Passoa, Ancho Reyes Chili liqueur, and citrus (I haven't decided which i like best but i, or passion fruit juice... but I think lime.)
I'm down to hear more of this! Feels like it's been a long time ;)
2 weeks :(
I love when Greg says "You wanna get nuts, let's get nuts" with that cadence, its like a bank teller's interpretation of the line or something
I would love a video based on bitters. there are so many types anymore. I try and experiment but there are so many! especially the sampler packs you can get. I want to try more but I get intimidated
i feel like i'm obligated to share this here given the formula of the episode, but a couple months back i wanted to try a last word. the bar i was at didn't have green chartreuse or maraschino liqueuer, so instead we substituted amara montenegro and grenadine respectively, and it was really good!! the bartender and i named it the final word. i've since tried it with using maraschino instead of grenadine as well as splitting that part halfway between maraschino and grenadine (i tend to make the drink with the equal portions being 1 or 1.5 oz each, so the maraschino and grenadine would each be 0.5 or 0.75 oz for that version). ultimately i think i still like that original version with the montenegro and grenadine substitutions the best, and i've made it for friends and they all liked it a lot as well. it's one of those drinks that's a little dangerous cause it's quite tasty. i recommend trying it out!
Another classic ratio that I learned from a video called "Vermouth in Cocktails" with Jamie Boudreau. 1.5 oz brown spirit, 0.75 oz vermouth style aperitif, 0.25 oz amaro or other modifier. Works pretty well, but you might want to steer clear of certain modifiers like, say, Fernet.
1800 Silver, St. Elizabeth Allspice, Aperol, Lime. Formula works.
This was an eye opening episode.
I made myself a Scotch, cherry hearing, yellow chartreuse with lemon.
Delightful
This is my favorite episode of How to Drink! I live in Utah where we're at the mercy of the limited selection in state-owned liquor stores, but this formula just works.
this just proves that using this might not be perfect every time but its a DAMN good way to make a foundation
One of the all time classic episodes. Thank you Greg.
I was sent this video by a friend. First time viewer. Went right out and got a bottle of Plantation Pineapple Rum. The Last Drink is excellent. I think for me I need to have less Chartreuse but I didn't realize that until I made it so I added some more creme de banana and that was good. Thanks for these ideas!
Just tested it with Lime, grand marnier for sweet, jaegermeister for herbal (although plenty sweet) and spice tree blended scotch. Turned out great, like a herbal whisky sour.
Oh boy, Greg is starting off ‘enthusiastic’, this should be good.
1 part spirit, 1 part fresh juice, 1/2 liquor, and 1/2 part sweetener is usually my golden ratio.
So I combined this formula with the idea of rolling dice to determine what to use and I've gotten some great combos! I only have lemons right now so they all use lemon as citrus
Gin/cherry heering/Aperol (I did an absinthe rinse with this one)
Applejack/orange liqueur/Amaro Montenegro
Absinthe/Mr. Black/Metcalfe's raspberry liqueur (this one needs some tweaking since the absinthe comes through really strongly, but it was way better than I expected)
Whiskey/Th. Kramers Aromatique Bitters/Metcalfe's Raspberry Liqueur - this one was excellent
Gotta be one of the best HTD episodes! I just love how Greg gets all giddy with the whole concept and inventing all these new cool ass drinks. Wanna try all of these now for sure!
Been missing my HTD content, so glad you guys are back this week
I decided to test the theory with pineapple rum, luxardo cherry, amaro, and lime. It was sweet and tangy and then it lead into a chocolate note. This is amazing
I love this episode. I would love to watch more episodes where you play with classic cocktail formats on the fly!
my friend, you just gave me a lot of work to do (separate my liquors into herby vs sweet) and trying all sorts of concoctions with hopefully happy outcomes as shown in this video! thanks!
I tried bourbon, passoã, citronge orange liqueur, and lemon with 1/4 ounce of simple. Turned out amazing.
I literally paused the video to try this out, found out 2 new recipes this way.... Thank you Greg
There is an old Punch rhyme:
"One part Sour,
Two of Sweet,
Three of Strong (liquor),
And Four of Weak (often wine, bubbles or even tea!)
And "a touch of spice makes 5"
“Let’s see if my hypothesis can become a theory!”
Yay, Scientific Method!
Heres one. A guy from the Federal Theater Project made a youtube video on the 1930s Yankee Doodle cocktail. He talked mostly about the George M Cohen show of the same name. Anyway the version of the drink he had was: crush 5 green grapes & a couple slices of ginger. Pour crushed mixture with its juices into a shaker with half a teaspoon of sugar & 1.5 ounces of grape vodka. Shake then strain into a glass with ice cracked or crushed and garnish with a shish kebob of raspberries and blue berries on a toothpick.
Hope the move went ok Greg! Happy to have you back
I've been doing a lot of experimenting along these same lines, but without the herbal note. Just liquor, sweetener and bittering agent.
If you really want a yummy way to sweeten, get your hands on some Barenjager. Its a German honey liquor. So good can drink it by itself, but is amazing when using as a mixer.
Wheel of last word: Spin a wheel of base spirits, a wheel of sour fruit juices, Wheel of sweet liqueurs, and wheel of herbal liqueurs.
I did one with falernum, lime, St. Germain, and rum. Success! A little over-sweet but that's just a matter of tweaking the proportions.
I just came over from my usual, no channel account to comment. I decided to play with this tonight with what I had on hand and it worked! First up: Smokey cupreata mezcal, goldschlager, alpenbitters, and lime juice. Nice. Would drink again.
Next: Pear eau-de-vie, absinthe, butter ripple schnapps (don't come for me), and lemon juice. Ok. Needs tweaking. The pear is only on the nose a bit, then disappears.
Very cool. I'll be playing with this ratio!
This was such a fun video and this definitely gives me some ideas for bottles I have sitting around. I've used the "Old Fashioned" formula to start with for easy cocktails and this "Last Word" formula I think is a nice level up.
I appreciate this video, thank you Greg!
Thank you for using hypothesis instead of theory.
I know it's not a world shattering issue, and I don't hate anyone who think they are interchangeable.
But it does make my brain happy when it is done correctly.
That is all.
I was so excited to try out a Last Gasp after work, but I completely forgot I had run out of tequila. I substituted bourbon, and wouldn't you know it, I still ended up with an extremely refreshing cocktail. This formula rules.
I must say this is an incredible an necessary show as to he lack of a more educational or thought worthy episode as of recent with all the toying of terrible drinks. Well done with hopes for more!
Would be a fun episode if you had a random wheel that chose ingredients for the different drink templates
Maybe make this a series where you try this formula going more and more wild and keep score of what works
On reddit there was a spreadsheet of four ingredient cocktails all based on the last words. Worth a look! Hundreds there.
Me, explaining this video to my wife: "...and he says every drink with this ratio actually tastes good!"
My wife: "Yeah...cuz he's hammered"
I would love to see a retrospective and revisiting of some of your favorite accidental masterpieces. The Last Latitude would be great to see a refining of, for instance
Glad you took the recommendation I suggested, and you responded to, in one of your live feeds.
literally used this formula with a manhattan (which I do not like), and it produced a drink I very much like, equal parts rye, sweet vermouth, lemon juice and grand marnier
After watching a lot of episodes and trying cocktails that sounded interesting while out I convinced my wife to let me buy some bottles and start mixing my own drinks at home. Had to share that I went with The Last Drink for my first recipe and while I subbed Dolin Genepy because I wasn't able to grab Chartreuse locally, it was still the most fantastic drink I've ever had. You really knocked it out of the park with this one Greg! Cheers!
I am so happy the Yellowstone drinks are back!
I just tested this out with random bottles that I had lying around: bourbon, creme de menthe, Fernet Branca, and lemon juice. I don't even like fernet, but it works.
I’m a newbie to bartending, but I’m gradually improving. Decided to make The Last Nail tonight for some friends and was told it was one of the best drinks they’d ever had. Thanks Greg!
Just tried equal parts
Campari
Gin
Lemon Juice
Liquor 43
Had to add a bit of simple syrup, but dang, it’s surprisingly good, with a lot of evolution. Lemon and the floral bits of the gin hit early, then the vanilla from the L43, and finally the bitterness and herbs from the Campari.
I think if I make this again, I’ll try acid adjusting orange juice to essentially turn this into a creamsicle.
I also had the idea of a single elimination bracket tournament for each combination of 2-4 ingredients from each category. The Final Countdown.
Nuts you say? Alright, I had to try after I watched it. Hear me out.
1 oz Redbreast 12
1 oz Maraschino
1 oz Chartreuse
1 oz lime juice
It's definitely a combination that I would never had tried if I hadn't been influenced by Greg, but I really like it.