Maraschino March: "Primer Beso" from The Refinery

As promised, we move on to a cocktail that uses, no joke, a full ounce and a half of Maraschino. General manager at The Refinery, Graham Racich, informed me upon accepting the challenge this month that he was going to use it as a base, and I believed him... but maybe I didn't really believe him. Once again, Tequila shows up as a complimentary ingredient to the Maraschino, and like The Last Word, so do Green Chartreuse and lime, but it's difficult to imagine how any flavours can poke through that ounce and a half. However, in The Last Word, both the lime and Chartreuse really prove to not only calm down the Maraschino but blend really well with it, and this is, as Graham puts it, an inverted version of it. Upon tasting, you got a strong hit of the Maraschino, but it backs off really quickly and you start to get the lime flavours, then last you get all the herbs and a bit of spice from the Chartreuse and Tequila. It's a surprisingly tame cocktail considering what's in it, and while very sweet in texture, isn't too much so in flavour. There's definitely room for experimenting here with other bitters, but if you want the true experience, get to The Refinery and have him make it with his house-made lime one.


Thanks to Graham and The Refinery for the contribution!
(you can check out my review of The Refinery here)

Here is, Primer Beso (meaning "first kiss" in Spanish).

Primer Beso

1.5 oz Maraschino

0.75oz Blanco Tequila

0.75oz fresh lime Juice

0.5oz Green Chartreuse

Dash of homemade lime bitters
Shake and strain.

[[ see "Oden's Muse" from Tavern Law here ]]
[[ see "The Hemingway Solution" from Vessel here ]]
[[ see the Maraschino March introduction here ]]
[[ see "The Division Bell" from Mayahuel here ]]
[[ see "The Shibuya Crusta" from L'Abattoir here ]]
[[ see "The Unforgiven" from Russell Davis at Rickhouse here ]]
[[ see "The Rubicon" from Jamie Boudreau at Canon here ]]