dunbar

1 3/4 oz Douglas XO Blended Scotch
1 oz Lustau Dry Amontillado Sherry
1/4 oz Benedictine
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Angostura Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a glass pre-rinsed with Laphroaig Scotch. Twist an orange peel over the top.

For my next cocktail at Drink, bartender California Gold mentioned that she had a riff on the Bobby Burns. She explained that she woke up with an idea for a Scotch-sherry drink a few nights before, and it morphed into a variation of said classic. For a name, she asked for assistance from poet Jill McDonough who dubbed it the Dunbar. Luckily, she meant the town in Scotland and not the crappy college bar in Ithaca, NY, named after it. Moreover, the Dunbar seemed like a good segue from the mezcal and sherry-containing Tobacconist with a less smokey and more sherry offering.
The drink greeted me with a fresh orange oil aroma coupled with the smoke most likely from the Laphroaig rinse. On the tongue, grape and malt notes were on the sip, and these flavors were followed by nuttiness, smoke, spice, and a hint of orange from the bitters on the swallow. Indeed, the sherry took the drink in a different direction than sweet vermouth does in the Bobby Burns for it donated more grape and nutty elements to the flavor profile.