Love & Murder
Neon green and ruby red in one glass: Chartreuse and Campari meet in a bitter, tart trial of strength with a hint of salt.
Ingredients
- Green Chartreuse30 ml
- Campari30 ml
- Lime juice, freshly squeezed30 ml
- Simple syrup (1 part Sugar, 1 part Water)22.5 ml
- Salt, saline, five parts water to one part salt4 drops
- Lime, to garnish (optional)1 twist
Method
- Chill a coupe thoroughly.
- Pour the saline, lime juice, simple syrup, green Chartreuse and Campari into a shaker.
- Fill the shaker with ice cubes and shake hard for 12–15 seconds, until ice-cold.
- Double-strain through a fine-mesh strainer into the cold coupe.
- Twist a strip of lime peel over the drink to express its oils, and rest the peel on the rim to garnish.
Credit Nick Bennett, Porchlight, New York
About this drink
Love & Murder was created by Nick Bennett at Porchlight in New York around 2021 and named after the Broadway show A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, a nod to the theatre crowd at the bar and fittingly dramatic for a drink that looks like a stage curtain in green and red. It belongs to the family of equal-parts drinks around the Last Word, but builds on equal measures of Chartreuse and Campari, so herbal and orange-peel bitterness compete for attention. The saline is a finishing touch in the spirit of Dave Arnold that softens the sharpness without making the drink taste salty.
Updated 23 Sept 2026
Questions and answers
Why is there saline in Love & Murder?
A few drops of salt round off the bitter, tart balance between Chartreuse and Campari and lift the other flavours, much as a pinch of salt does in cooking. It makes the drink less sharp, not salty.
Can you leave the saline out of Love & Murder?
The drink works fine without it. It just turns out a touch more bluntly bitter without the salt's rounding effect.
