You may wonder how I go about picking out the drinks here at DOTW. A lot of the time, it has something to do with what I’ve got laying around the palatial North Hollywood premises of Drink of the Week Manor. Occasionally, I look at the calendar, and sometimes, I simply stumble over something at random.

At times, though, my own life enters the picture to some extent. For example, I am actually writing these words while shoehorned into a Hawaiian Airlines jet and, guess what, last week’s drink was as well.

By the time you read this, however, I will be firmly in place at my annual geekboy retreat to Comic-Con and, so, the name “Warday’s Cocktail” leaped out at me from the pages of, once again, “The Savoy Cocktail Book.” Now, it occurred to me later that Warday is probably just some guy’s name, but right then, “Warday” seemed redolent of Silver Age Jack Kirby and Jim Starlin creations for both DC and Marvel. Also, the ingredients are mighty provocative.

Then, the daily news stepped in with events to dark too discuss within the confines of a cocktail blog. Best to just go with the idea that Warday was probably just the name of some enterprising bartender of the prohibition age or prior.

Moving rapidly along, while you could definitely argue that the name of today’s drink is in questionable judgment, the taste of this week’s drink is, at the very least, respectable and worth investigating. It definitely makes for an interesting combo and, I’m here to tell you that it can be just the thing after the end of a truly disturbing day or week.

Warday’s Cocktail

1 ounce apple brandy
1 ounce gin
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 teaspoon Chartreuse (Green or Yellow)

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously. (You can also try stirring this one up even more vigorously in a mixing glass, but I haven’t had the opportunity to give this one the stirred-not-shaken test.)

Strain it into a mixing glass and maybe consider making a toast to peace. Peace, we’re sometimes told, is more than the absence of war. On the other hand, that mere absence is, very often, quite enough to be grateful for.

******

If you know your Chartreuse, it probably won’t surprise you to hear that, despite the presence of two forceful base spirits and one of boozedom’s sturdiest sweetening wines, the piquant floral notes of the legendary, and legendarily stiff, monk-made liqueur is what lingers on the tongue and in the memory. Especially if you’re less in love with the stuff, consider the milder yellow variety instead. If, on the other hand, you’re as avid as Quentin Tarantino (or at least his “Death Proof” character) about the delicious nature of the stuff, then by all means have at it and go green.

As for the higher volume ingredients, I was reasonably happy with my results using Laird’s Apple Brandy (the original recipe also mentions calvados, so feel free to try that out if you’ve got some), Bombay Dry Gin, and both Noilly Pratt and Carpano Antica sweet vermouth. It’s definitely the case, however, that the latter sweet vermouth added more of a bitter zing to the mix, though I never could make up my mind whether it was a zing I really wanted to be there.

On the other hand, I also used Warday’s Cocktail to debut Tanqueray’s Rangpur Gin, a tangy new addition to my perpetually overflowing liquor cabinets. It added a citrusy edge and made for a really distinctive and zesty concoction.

So, let’s make cocktails, not war. However, if we have to split the difference, I guess we can always make Warday’s Cocktail.