Wednesday, February 23, 2022

champs elysee

1 1/2 oz Cognac (Du Peyrat Selection)
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Wednesdays ago, I was perusing Jupiter Disco's Preservation zine when I spotted their take on the Champs Elysées. I had just written up my preferred Yellow Chartreuse version of the recipe as modified from the Green Chartreuse one in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, and the zine authors adapted theirs from an earlier source, namely Nina Toye and A.H. Addair's Drinks Long and Short from 1925. The two authors had a bit of commentary along the margins. Maks Pazuniak wrote, "I'm sure this is the proper spec, but I'll never not be annoyed that Green Chartreuse and lemon are in the same cocktail. Everybody knows Green Chartreuse goes with lime and Yellow Chartreuse with lemon." Al Sotack countered with, "Maks is wrong about all that."
The Champs Elysées with Green Chartreuse instead of my usual substitution of Yellow gave forth a lemon, Cognac, and herbal aroma. Next, lemon on the sip pranced into a Cognac and Green Chartreuse herbal swallow with a clove finish.