Chartreuse Swizzle Recipe

Let's start the weekend right--with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke of The Cocktail Chronicles. Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!

In a recent diatribe against oppressive summer heat, I praised the class of crushed ice drinks known as swizzles. Originating in the Caribbean and typically made of rum, lime juice, and occasionally the lime-and-clove syrup called falernum, swizzles are among the most effective heat busters in the bibulous kingdom. But they're not all based on rum. Here's a contemporary drink that takes the swizzle's foundation and revamps it in a spectacularly flavorful way: the Chartreuse Swizzle.

Created by San Francisco bartender Marcovaldo Dionysos, the Chartreuse Swizzle takes the basic elements of a Caribbean swizzle and sends them to grad school. By swapping the rum for green Chartreuse--a French herbal liqueur with a recipe dating back centuries--the Chartreuse Swizzle takes a simple summer cooler and turns the complexity level up to the proverbial eleven. The mixture may seem odd but in the glass, it works wonders. If you're looking for a unique and stunning drink to cool off with this August weekend, the Chartreuse Swizzle would be a good place to start.