The Opening Line · Myers + Chang

Credit: Brian Samuels
By Eric Twardzik · 05/11/2018

The Opening Line at Myers + Chang is a clever riff on The Last Word, a classic cocktail that predates prohibition. The South End spot has retained the drink’s central ingredients—gin and green chartreuse—but tweaked the ratio in favor of gin, and swapped out lime juice for yuzu and a cucumber simple syrup.

“Yuzu has a slightly creamy texture to it, and it really mellows out the intensity of the chartreuse,” says bartender Joe Hennessy. “We’re taking the idea of The Last Word and making it more approachable.”

The cucumber simple syrup is made by combining sugar with a cucumber and allowing the mixture to sit overnight. The high water content of the cuke easily transforms the mixture into a syrup. And together with the yuzu, it introduces new flavors into the drink.

“It makes it Myers + Chang,” Hennessy says. It brings an element of the vegetal and the fruity, and a little bit of acid, too.”

The final outcome still packs the herbaceous punch of green chartreuse, yet it’s brighter, fruitier, and better suited to the warmer weather we’ve all been waiting for.

The Opening Line
1½ ounces Barr Hill Gin
1 ounce yuzu juice
½ ounce green chartreuse
½ ounce cucumber simple syrup*
Luxardo cherry, for garnish.

Add ingredients to a shaker filled with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a coupe and garnish with a speared cherry.

*Cucumber simple syrup (yields about two cups)
1 large cucumber, unpeeled and sliced into rounds
1 cup sugar

Place cucumber in container and cover with sugar. Allow mixture to sit overnight in container, then strain resulting syrup into a sealed container and refrigerate. Keeps about two weeks.

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