royalist

1/2 Dry Vermouth (1 1/2 oz Dolin)
1/4 Bourbon (3/4 oz Bulleit)
1/4 Benedictine (3/4 oz)
1 dash Peach Bitters (Fee's)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Thursday evening after returning home from Hungry Mother, it was dinner time and I went in search of an aperitif in the Café Royal Cocktail Book. There, I spotted the Royalist which was created by the book's author, William J. Tarling, and would make good use of the Bulleit Bourbon that recently returned to our liquor shelves. With half the volume being dry vermouth, the Royalist was a much lighter style of drink than most cocktails.
The Royalist started with a peach and Benedictine aroma. The sip was a malty, citrussy peach flavor with the swallow containing a lot more peach as well as Benedictine and aged Bourbon notes. I was rather impressed with how powerful the peach bitters were in this recipe, especially how it did a good job of balancing the medicinal aspect of Benedictine. Andrea commented that the drink reminded her a little of the Bamboo; however, the Royalist had a lot more going on in terms of layers of flavor.