Just before Prohibition was put into effect in 1919, the last word was the trendiest and most expensive cocktail you could quaff down at a very few select bars. The drink was so popular that bartenders overcharged patrons an outrageous 35 cents — or $8 plus change in today’s currency — for one. Unlike other Prohibition cocktails and pre-Prohibition cocktails, the last word nearly faded into obscurity until it was mentioned in a 1951 cocktail manual as a famous vaudevillian’s favorite drink, which was served at New York City’s storied Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
The identity of the bartender who first concocted the last word out of equal parts gin, lime juice, maraschino liqueur, and mysterious green Chartreuse is forever shrouded in mystery, but historical documentary evidence points to the Detroit Athletic Club as the cocktail’s place of origin. The Detroit Athletic Club (DAC) dates to 1887, and its ornate and imposing clubhouse, constructed in 1913, is still a recognizable landmark in the city. Detroit had been an important railway hub, and the DAC’s bar was the watering hole for wealthy railway magnates.
It’s unknown when the DAC began serving the last word, but its first mention is in a 1916 dinner menu that was published in the DAC’s magazine that marketed other cocktails, wines, and cigars that were available to the membership. In 1917, Frank Fogarty, a vaudeville performer famous for his impersonations, songs, and witty monologues, was brought in to “enliven the proceedings” at the DAC bar, and he became so enamored with the last word that he begged the bartender to share the recipe. The drink’s clever name is often credited to his act, too.
The fall and rise of the last word
Fogarty returned home to Brooklyn, New York, and he passed the DAC’s recipe on to the bartenders at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where he enjoyed many a cocktail before Prohibition. Anecdotally, things get a bit murky at this point, as Fogarty is sometimes credited for inventing the last word. In 1918, Michigan was one of the first states to go dry before Prohibition took effect in 1919, and the DAC’s out-of-work bartenders left and took their cocktail recipes — including the last word — with them. As a result, many are now lost.
The Waldorf-Astoria took a financial hit during the Prohibition era, and rumor has it that the hotel served the last word in one of its private suites that was set up as a speakeasy. When Prohibition ended in 1933, bars could once again serve alcohol, though the last word was apparently forgotten. But in 1951, the Waldorf-Astoria publicist, Ted Saucier, published “Bottoms Up,” a compendium of cocktail recipes, and he included the last word, mentioning the DAC’s and Fogarty’s intertwined history with the drink.
The book generated a bit of renewed interest in the cocktail, but it was lost again until 2003, when Seattle bartender Murray Stenson found a copy of “Bottoms Up” and began serving the last word to patrons. The equal-parts cocktail was a hit, and other bartenders in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and eventually its own birthplace, the DAC, put the last word on their menus. The aptly-named last word has stood the test of time, and today is one of the most popular cocktails in the world.
