My Friend Peat

My Friend Peat

This peaty cocktail is a riff on a riff. It traces back to the Last Word — a Prohibition-era drink that vanished for decades before a Seattle bartender dug it up in the early 2000s and turned it into a modern classic. Years later, a New York bartender named Phil Ward put his own stamp on it, swapping the gin for rye whiskey and naming the result the Final Ward. My Friend Peat carries that lineage one step further, swapping the Final Ward's rye for a peaty Islay Scotch — trading spice for smoke.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Islay Peaty Scotch ( Laphroaig 10 )

• 0.25 oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)

• 0.5 oz Yellow Chartreuse

• 0.25 oz Lemon Juice

Steps

1. Add all ingredients into a shaker of you choice

2. Add ice and do a shake

3. Strain into your favorite Nick and Nora glass

4. Garnish with a Lemon or Orange Twist

Paired With

Salted Caramel from Zotter Chokolade

This one's less a chocolate bar and more a truffle in disguise — layers of dark chocolate, caramel, almond praline, and salt. It was picked partly out of Peat's own soft spot for caramel, but the flavors do real work together: the caramel meets the whisky's underlying sweetness, while the salt and dark chocolate push back against its smoke and maritime edge. The almond praline adds texture that keeps things from feeling one-note. Taken together, it's a layered bite — you get the peat first, then the caramel right behind it.