Greenpoint
Greenpoint: Michael McIlroy's 2006 Yellow Chartreuse Manhattan Variation
Adapted from a recipe created in 2006 by Michael McIlroy at Milk & Honey in New York City, USA Difford's Guide. The cocktail is part of a series of New York neighborhood drinks that emerged during the early 2000s cocktail renaissance. It started with fellow Milk & Honey alum Vincenzo Errico's Red Hook in 2003, made with rye, Maraschino liqueur, and Punt e Mes. Audrey Saunders invented her Cynar-spiked Little Italy in 2005, and McIlroy's Greenpoint came along soon after VinePair.
According to Robert Simonson's 2022 book "Modern Classic Cocktails," in McIlroy's pursuit of making his own neighborhood cocktail, "he drew on the Brooklyn area where he then lived, Greenpoint, and the famously green French liqueur, Chartreuse." He wound up using yellow Chartreuse in the version that made it on the Milk & Honey menu, and since there's no Yellowpoint neighborhood in the borough, McIlroy stuck with the more verdant name VinePair.
The drink is essentially a Brooklyn cocktail with sweet vermouth and yellow Chartreuse replacing the dry vermouth and maraschino liqueur of the original, creating a sweeter, more herbaceous profile with notes of honey, anise, and citrus.
RECIPE:
2 oz rye whiskey
½ oz yellow Chartreuse
½ oz sweet vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Lemon twist
Method:
Add all ingredients to mixing glass with ice
Stir until well-chilled
Strain into chilled coupe glass
Garnish with lemon twist