the gladstone

1 drink Whiskey (2 oz Old Overholt Rye)
1 dash Jamaican Rum (1/4 oz Smith & Cross)
a little Maraschino (1/4 oz Luxardo)
2 dash Gum (1/4 oz Simple Syrup
1 dash Absinthe (1 scant bsp Kübler)
1 dash Russian Kümmel (1 bsp Helbing)
2 dash Bitters (Jerry Thomas Decanter)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
For a drink two Thursday nights ago, I reached for William Schmidt's 1891 The Flowing Bowl and spotted the Gladstone. The recipe came across like a more complex Improved Whiskey Cocktail with additional flavors from Jamaican rum and kümmel. Once prepared, the Gladstone shared a whiskey, anise, and caraway bouquet to the nose. Next, malt and a light cherry flavor on the sip slid into rye, rum funk, nutty cherry, caraway, and other spice elements on the swallow. I was definitely pleased at how well the kümmel notes merged in with the bitters and absinthe of the Improved Whiskey Cocktail, and a touch of Jamaican rum funk rarely seems to hurt a flavor profile.