[shepherd's secret]

1 1/2 oz Sheep Dip Blended Scotch
3/4 oz Luxardo Amaro Abano
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
1 barspoon Green Chartreuse

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

After going to Drink a few Mondays ago, I stayed in Fort Point and visited Blue Dragon a few blocks away. There, I was greeted by bar manager John Drew who offered up a small taste of a great apple-sweet potato milk punch that perfectly captured Autumn in a glass. For a drink, he suggested a Scotch cocktail he created that rather appealed to me for it contained Amaro Abano; indeed, the Scotch and Abano combination worked rather well in Les Kostinas' Blacksmith at Russell House Tavern.
The cocktail began with a bright orange oil aroma that balanced the darker notes from the Abano and Punt e Mes on the nose. A caramel and grape sip led into a Scotch swallow with a complex bitter herbal finish.