“It’s missing something, something I know but I don’t know what.”

That, at least, is the most common thought that goes through my head when crafting a recipe for this website. Which would also make it one of the most common thoughts to cross my mind. And the real “kicker” is that it’s often no more than one or two ingredients that separates the vision in one’s mind, from being amazing. But it’s the specificity of those ingredients that is the true game changer.

To put it simply, there are a handful of ingredients out there that make all the difference. And never was this as visible as right after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. If you were searching for any specific ingredient, the odds were not in your favor that you’d find it. Bread flour, gone. Chickpeas/tahini, gone. Szechuan Peppercorns, good fucking luck!!! Since then, things have thankfully gotten back to mostly pre-pandemic availability. There’s occasional shortages due to supply chain issues, but thankfully, by in large, you shouldn’t have to worry about those anymore.

The same cannot be said for the world of cocktails. And unfortunately, one of the legends has hit a point where it is simply not viable to plan on the supply getting any better. Chartreuse is a perfect example of this. It’s the sort of thing that you can easily sip on neat. That is until you realize it’s right around 60% abv, then you sip a little slower. It’s also a cornerstone of the cocktail movement of the last twenty years. Taking every role from a quick background wash, to serving as the main act.

Now, here’s the problem. If Chartreuse were made by a multinational corporation, as many people understandably assume it to be, there’d be no shortage of the stuff. In fact, it would likely be a bigger deal than it already is. But nooooo. It is made by Carthusian Monks, two to be specific… Which means that this near critical ingredient for so many cocktails is, for lack of a better way of putting it, one car crash away from extinction. And on top of that, they produce only a select amount at a time.

So yeah, lovers of the last word and chartreuse swizzle, there is good reason to be afraid. This is also not the only liqueur that falls into this difficult category. In the coming weeks we will be taking a look at hard to source, or potentially endangered cocktail ingredients. And in the process, we will be trying to develop a series of alternatives and even potentially superior substitutes. As the hijacked plane is proof of, sometimes this can lead you to superior results. We’re also going to take the time to explore how certain esoteric liqueurs can be used to entertaining/surprising effect, and yes, I am factoring Malort into this. So stay tuned, and be ready. Things will be getting interesting…