grease lightning

1 1/2 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
1 oz Bonal Gentiane-Quina
1/2 oz Benedictine
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a Double Old Fashioned glass. Fill with ice and garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Tuesdays ago, Andrea and I ventured over to Estragon. For a first drink, I peered into bartender Sahil Mehta's drink notebook and spotted a delightful aperitif called the Grease Lightning. The dry vermouth and Benedictine reminded me of the Chrysanthemum with the Peychaud's Bitters anise note subbing in for the classic's absinthe. Sahil commented that the drink's genesis was unrelated to that classic though.
The Grease Lightning brought lemon oils from the twist and grape from the Bonal to the nose. Next, a dry grape on the sip led into herbal and grape flavors on the swallow. Overall, the Bonal brought a rounder grape flavor to the mix that took the balance in a different direction from that classic.