hugo bracer

1 oz Apple Brandy (2 oz Laird's Bonded)
1/2 oz Amer Picon (1/2 oz Torani Amer)
2 dash Grenadine (1/2 oz)
Juice 1 Lime (1/2 oz)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.Two Thursdays ago, I delved into my drink book library and selected Trader Vic's 1947 Bartender's Guide. There, I spied the Hugo Bracer which had the Amer Picon-grenadine duo found in Basque Picon Punch as well as more modern recipes like the Jayco from Trader Vic's 1972 Bartender's Guide Revised. I originally mixed this with the two dashes of grenadine at 1/4 oz, but it needed a bit more to balance the lime juice, so I upped it to 1/2 oz. Overall, the structure ended up very close to my Cognac-based with lemon juice 8th Arrondissement that began with the idea of a French version of the Ward 8. In the glass, the Hugo Bracer donated an apple, herbal, and berry aroma. Next, lime and red berry notes on the sip flowed into apple and bitter orange flavors on the swallow with a pomegranate finish. Overall, the Hugo Bracer came across as an embittered Jack Rose with a skew towards the bitter orange direction.