Before I tell you the story, for anyone who wants to recreate it at home I've put together a ready-to-shop list with all the exact ingredients you need. Now, onto the legend.
The Last Word was born in the Detroit Athletic Club around 1915-1916, at the height of the Detroit auto industry era. The cocktail was "the last word" in sophistication for the clientele of the exclusive club, which included Ford, Dodge, Chrysler and Fisher, the automotive tycoons of the era. The drink was brought onto the vaudeville stage by Frank Fogarty, the famous comedian known as the "Dublin Minstrel."
Published in 1951 by Ted Saucier in his book Bottoms Up!, it was then promptly forgotten for half a century. The total revival came in 2004, when Murray Stenson found it at the Zig Zag Café in Seattle and brought it back onto the menu, triggering a cult cocktail phenomenon. Today, with its four equal parts (gin, Chartreuse, maraschino, lime), the Last Word is considered the template of the equal-parts cocktail.
Beyond the ingredients, what makes a home cocktail truly memorable is the gear. A proper barman kit like this one on Amazon gives you the shaker, jigger, strainer and bar spoon you need to treat every guest like a regular at a legendary bar. And if you love entertaining, upgrading to a full professional cocktail bar station turns your kitchen corner into a real, organized bar where bottles stand ready and nothing is out of place.