Final results for Chartreuse cocktail recipe competition (4 of 4)

Much Green Chartreuse like this flowed at the Sporting Life Cocktail Competition 

it is 5 am
and the sun has charred
the other side of
the world and come
back to us
and painted the smoke
over our heads
an imperial violet
it is 5 am
and you are listening
to Los Angeles.
--“Screenwriter’s Blues” by Soul Coughing

Click here for Part One of the Chartreuse Competition: Arrival

Click here for Part Two of the Chartreuse Competition: Chorus

Click here for Part Three of Chartreuse Competition: Clash

Part Four: Resolution

It’s 4pm, and the war is over. I’ve slept, showered, and to my wife’s relief, shaved. My mouth tastes of toothpaste again, the tiny molecules of prepared alcohols from yesterday long since flushed into their final resting bowl.

The first Sweet 16 Chartreuse Cocktail Competition, sponsored by Cattani Imports and The Sporting Life has concluded, and there was one bartender that took home a treasure chest of booty.

I hope to have some or potentially all of the Chartreuse cocktail recipes soon, conceivably available here for worldwide bloggery. Now’s a good time to subscribe to my column (at the top) if you’re interested.

The Final Four were Matthew Biancaniello, who works at the Library Bar in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Chris Bostick (Blueprint Cocktail), Angus "Gus" McShane from Copa D'Oro, and Matty Eggleston at Wurstküche and Varnish downtown. Each of these men acquired a semi-legal shampoo bottle of Elixir Végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse. Visit their respected businesses and ask them about it. Maybe they have it stashed somewhere, and you can try some in one of their latest creations.

Before revealing the champion, I want you to realize how much work these liquid chefs put into their craft. Besides being on their feet night in and night out keeping a crowd happy yet not unruly, your servers (not servants) are researching new recipes, scouring town for the freshest ingredients, all the while (often) working for minimum wage plus taxed tips. Many work without health insurance, retirement plans, or even sound accounting or money management. When a bartender has a fistful of dollars in their pocket after a good night’s haul and the rising sun forces their tired eyes shut, there’s no HR director to tabulate the take and record it in a ledger for an April 15 comeuppance.

In other words, talk to your bartender. They’re not cocktail vending machines, they’re artists, and they take requests. And please, please, tip graciously.

The winner was Matthew Biancaniello, from the Library Bar in the Hollywood Roosevelt.

His final drink was a Red Bell Pepper Martini: red bell pepper, mint, lemon, grapefruit, St. Germaine and Hangar One Vodka and Green Chartreuse, served up and garnished with a small mint leaf with red bell pepper rubbed around the rim. (from Ultimate Cocktails)

After an afternoon experimenting with the science of alcohol accretion, adding more elements until it works, a few of these ladies and gentlemen had to suit up and go back to work. Work, yes, but reinvigorated by the Elixir of Life, which doesn’t always come neatly bottled.

Finally, don’t try to get into the Doheny by namedropping anyone mentioned here. It won’t play.