tin can telephone

1 1/4 oz Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy
1 1/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 1/4 oz Salers Gentian Liqueur
1/4 oz Benedictine
2 dash Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

A few weeks ago at work, I crafted a riff on the classic Marconi Wireless. It started with me thinking about how well gentian liqueurs like Salers pair with sweet vermouth such as in the Harry Palmer. After failing with a Cognac-based idea, I switched over to apple brandy and worked it well into a three equal parts Negroni-like number that included the orange bitters which appear in the Marconi Wireless. Since we do a 4 ounce pour at the bar, I was left with a recipe that was a quarter ounce short. While the original was good, it was improved with the earthy, herbal, and chocolate notes of Benedictine; I tried that knowing how well apple brandy and Benedictine pair in drinks like the Full House #2. I also tried Yellow Chartreuse, another excellent apple brandy pairing, but at one-sixteenth of the mix, it was lost. So in the end, it seemed less like a Negroni structure and more like a Vieux Carré.
For a name, I made things more grounded given the earthiness of the gentian and Benedictine and took the communication theme and dubbed it the Tin Can Telephone. Once mixed, it offered a lemon oil and apple aroma. A sweet orange and grape sip gave way to an apple swallow with an earthy, herbal, and chocolate finish. When I made it for Ethan of Deep Ellum when he sat at my bar, he thought that I had used Punt e Mes perhaps due to the Salers and sweet vermouth combination.