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.
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.
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.
