quinquina cocktail

1 oz Brandy (Courvoisier VS Cognac)
3/4 oz Bonal Gentiane-Quina
1/2 oz Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
2 dash Absinthe (1 scant bsp Kübler)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Tuesdays ago, I began flipping through the pages of Paul Clarke's The Cocktail Chronicles book when I came across the Quinquina Cocktail riff crafted by Chantal Tseng then of the Tabard Inn in Washington, DC. I was already taken by the recipe, but I sought out more information on Paul's 2010 blog post about the drink. Chantal originally found the recipe in Trader Vic's 1947 Bartender's Guide but later traced it back to Boothby's World Drinks and How to Mix Them. In my copy of Boothby's 1934 edition, the Quinquina recipe consisted of equal parts Cognac, quinquina, and peach brandy accented with two dashes of absinthe. Since dry peach brandy was not prevalent in 2010, it appears as though she swapped the orchard fruit to apricot liqueur and made the drink more spirit forward to dry out the balance.
The Quinquina Cocktail offered up a lemon and apricot aroma with a hint of anise. Next, the Bonal donated a red grape note to the sip, and the swallow began with Cognac followed by Bonal's bitter flavors melding into the apricot and ended with an absinthe finish.