For my single Roar of the Greasepaint cocktail, I wanted something elevated and something common. I thought I might go with some wine in the mix — there is certainly enough consumed by the characters in the show — but also thought gin made sense for the more common element and couldn’t see the wine working out. In the end, I decided on a half and half recipe representing the two main characters of Sir and Cocky.
Then, of course, came finding the name. There are a number of delightful phrases in the book that could probably fill a bar menu: All Due Respect, Towering Eyeful, Ars Ex Libris, Purple Fit, St. Clarence the Stutterer (or St. Vitus the Uninhibited), Your Move, I could go on and on. The color of the drink recommends The Green-eyed Monster, also spoken in the show, but as that is a reference from Othello it didn’t seem right.
In the end I kept returning to the Unparalleled Philistine, an insult from Sir to Cocky that Cocky misinterprets as a compliment, and a nice phrase of duality to match the ingredients of the drink.
Unparalleled Philistine
- 1.5 oz. G’vine Gin (or use a London Dry)
- 1.5 oz. Green Chartreuse (use VEP if you got it)
- 2 dashes lactart
Stir with lots of ice (needs a good dilution here) and strain into coupe.
Here is common gin (Cocky) mixed with a higher end herbal liqueur (Sir) with a few dashes of lactart (just gives a tartness to a drink — like citric acid from juice without the juice). A London Dry like Beefeater or Gordon’s would probably be more appropriate, but the G’vine here is a nod to the wine in the show (G’vine comes from grapes) and I felt played well with the Chartreuse. The lactart is actually a little bit of acid as a nod to the character of The Kid in the show, Sir’s apprentice and taunter of Cocky.
Cocky does a lot of guzzling in the show. This is definitely one for sipping. With all due respect.