Drink Without a Name Recipe

I suppose, technically, there are many drinks that could carry this moniker. Just witness the glasses of mysterious odds and ends passed into the living room a couple of hours into a rollicking weekend party. But this particular drink is worth remembering, even if the name doesn't exactly trip off the tongue.

Developed by longtime bartender-turned-architect Paul Harrington and included in his (now sadly out of print) book, Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century, the Drink Without a Name is a vodka cocktail for those who claim to hate vodka cocktails. While vodka drinks all too often slink into the realm of blandness, the Drink Without a Name uses vodka's neutral character to soften the blow of its two other vibrantly flavored ingredients: the dry, orange-flavored Cointreau and the bombastic, herbaceously complex green Chartreuse.

A common topic of conversation among cocktail geeks is how to get vodka-drinking friends to try more interesting cocktails. The Drink Without a Name certainly falls into the "interesting" category, and it's a good bridge drink for exploring more distinctive flavors.