applewood

2 oz Applejack
1/2 oz Demerara Simple Syrup
1 barspoon Pimento Dram
2 dash Angostura Bitters
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass pre-rinsed with Laphroaig 10 Year Scotch. Garnish with freshly grated cinnamon.

For my second drink at Lineage last Friday night, I asked bartender Ryan Lotz to make me the Applewood. The Applewood was essentially an applejack Old Fashioned, but the additional ingredients Ryan added to it generally donate rather complementary flavors. Indeed, the allspice in the Pimento Dram, the smoke and malt in the Scotch, and the cinnamon in the garnish all have worked in past apple brandy drinks I have tasted, but they never were in the same cocktail all at once.
The Applewood's nose contained cinnamon and the Scotch's smoke notes. The drink proved to be a tasty Old Fashioned with a good bit of spice on the swallow. Of the complementary elements, the allspice and apple pairing was the best of the three. While the drink lacked anise flavors from Herbsaint or absinthe, Ryan's description of "a seasonal spin on the Sazerac" was a decent one.