cloister

1 1/2 oz Hendrick's Gin
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist (grapefruit twist is an option, but not the way Green Street makes it).

For my last cocktail at Green Street two Sundays ago, I asked manager Mark Young to make me the Cloister. Robert Hess' site has been tracing back the history of the drink with the earliest reference they could find was in a 1970's Playboy bar book. While Robert was introduced to the Cloister at the Zig Zag Café in Seattle, I, like many Bostoners, was introduced to the recipe on Green Street's A-to-Z cocktail menu.
The Cloister greeted me with a fresh lemon oil and gin aroma. Next, a sweet citrus flavor on the sip was followed by the gin and yellow Chartreuse on the swallow. Overall, the drink was surprisingly well composed, especially how the grapefruit notes balanced the botanical bitterness in the Chartreuse.