eeyore's requiem

1 1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Tanqueray Gin
1/4 oz Cynar
1/4 oz Fernet Branca
1 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
15 drop 50/50 Bitters (1 dash Regan's Orange)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with orange oil from 3 twists.

Two Wednesdays ago, I finally purchased a replacement bottle of blanc vermouth and wanted to make a drink with it. One of the ones that I had queued up was Toby Maloney's Eeyore's Requiem that he created at Chicago's Violet Hour and got published in Beta Cocktails in 2011 (it did not appear in the 2009 Rogue Cocktails or 2010 intermediary zine Beta Cocktails). I had actually made the rum riff of this quirky gin drink in the Winnie the Pooh from the Experimental Cocktails Club book. The trilogy of Campari, Cynar, and Fernet Branca is one that Toby has utilized elsewhere such as in the Autumn Negroni save that the Campari is pushed way forward here.
The Eeyore's Requiem began with a bright orange oil aroma over that of the Campari's bitter orange notes. Next, the sip shared orange and peach flavors, and the swallow presented Campari balanced by Fernet's and Cynar's herbal bite which all came across as a complex bitter wave supplemented by the gin's botanicals. Moreover, the sweetness of the blanc vermouth helped to mollify the amari's bitterness.