remembrance of things past

2 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz Lavender-Lime Cordial (*)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
2 sprig Thyme

Shake with ice and double strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh thyme sprig.
(*) 2 parts lavender simple syrup to 3 parts lime juice. In a pinch, making the cordial with simple syrup and lime juice will work if 1 tsp of dried lavender flowers are put into the shaker.

Two Mondays ago, we made a pilgrimage to Estragon in South Boston to sit at Sahil Mehta's bar. For a first cocktail, Sahil recommended the Remembrance of Things Past. When Sahil had read about Ted Gallagher's Everybody is a Nun in regards to how well Green Chartreuse and a lavender-lemon cordial paired, he thought about the lavender-lime cordial that he had at the bar. Basing the drink off of Ben Sandrof's Silent Order, he replaced the original's basil with thyme. For the name, he considered the French ingredients of lavender from Provence and Chartreuse, and he dubbed it after Marcel Proust's seminal work which he found multi-layered, elegant, complex, and beautiful like the cocktail itself.
The Remembrance of Things Past offered up an herbal aroma showcasing the lavender and thyme notes. At first the sip contained solely lime notes, but over successive sips, the thyme flavors entered into the equation. Finally, the swallow was the beautiful pairing of the Green Chartreuse and lavender with the latter lingering somewhat on the aftertaste.