Alaska — A martini with Yellow Chartreuse where the vermouth would be

Alaska

A martini with Yellow Chartreuse where the vermouth would be

Number of people

Ingredients

  • 2 ozGin
    A London dry in the modern proportions; Old Tom in the earliest printing
  • 2 dashesScrappy's Orange Bitters
    Valencia and navel peel over gentian root
    Substitute: Any orange bitters
  • 3/4 ozYellow Chartreuse
    Where the vermouth would be, and much sweeter than one

Instructions

  1. Add 2 oz gin, 3/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse and 2 dashes orange bitters to a mixing glass
  2. Fill with ice and stir until cold

    Stirred, not shaken; there is nothing here to aerate

  3. Strain into a chilled coupe
  4. Express a lemon peel over the surface and drop it in

Technique Notes

Stirred, and it has to be. There is no citrus juice and no egg here, so shaking would only aerate and over-dilute a drink whose whole appeal is a clear, heavy texture.

Why the Alaska Works

Yellow Chartreuse is honeyed and herbal at once, and against dry gin it can read as simply sweet. The orange bitters is what keeps the two apart: gentian on one side, citrus oil on the other, so the Chartreuse arrives as a herb rather than as sugar.