black friars

50% Gin (1 1/2 oz GrandTen Wire Works)
25% Dry Vermouth (3/4 oz Noilly Prat)
10% Benedictine (2 tsp or 1/3 oz)
10% Curaçao (2 tsp or 1/3 oz Pierre Ferrand)
5% Brandy (1 tsp or 1/6 oz Foret)
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Serve with a cherry.

For cocktails a few Wednesdays ago, we began the evening with the Black Friars from the United Kingdom Bartenders Guild's Approved Cocktails book. The drink bears similarity to my Black Friar that I created for a Plymouth Gin contest. It also shares a likeness to the classic Caprice as well as Eastern Standard's King's Yellow and the old Latin Quarter's Joan Blondell.
The Black Friars' dry vermouth worked well with the Curaçao's orange and the Angostura's spice on the nose. The white wine and orange sip led into gin, Benedictine, and Angostura flavors on the swallow. Overall, it was a bit more orange than a Caprice but still in the same neighborhood.