the trenton

1 3/4 oz Laird's Applejack
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/2 oz Cardamaro
1/4 Cinzano Sweet Vermouth
2 dash Herbsaint
2 dash Housemade Aromatic Bitters
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Twist an orange peel over the top and discard.

Two Sundays ago, Andrea and I went over to Deep Ellum for drinks. The first cocktail I had was the Trenton that recently appeared on their menu. After having the combination of apple brandy and Cynar with the Michigander, I was ordering a drink made with applejack and Cardamaro. Instead of Cynar's artichokes, this Italian liqueur is made with cardoon, which is a relative of artichokes, along with blessed thistle and other botanicals. I wrote about Cardamaro in a post about Russell House Tavern's Sacrilege, a drink which had a similar structure to the Michigander with its lemon juice and honey syrup. To bolster this liqueur and the applejack, the Trenton included a variety of other spiced and herbal elements including cinnamon syrup and Herbsaint.
The Trenton that bartender Jennifer Salucci made for me presented an herbal aroma from the Cardamaro, a grape one from the sweet vermouth (or perhaps the Cardamaro's wine base), and orange oils from the twist. As the drink warmed up, the Herbsaint's anise scent soon entered into the equation. While the sip was mostly from the applejack, the swallow was rather complex with Cardamaro and cinnamon flavors at the beginning and anise notes from the Herbsaint and Pechaud's Bitters at the end.