the weeper's joy

3 dash Gum (1/4 oz Simple Syrup)
1/2 pony Absinthe (3/4 oz Kübler Absinthe)
1/2 pony Vino Vermouth (3/4 oz Cocchi Sweet)
1/2 pony Kümmel (3/4 oz Helbing)
1 dash Curaçao (1/4 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

When I got home two Fridays ago, I thought that it might be time to revisit a drink never made it on to the blog. The recipe was the Weeper's Joy -- an oddball combination that appeared in William Schmidt's 1891 The Flowing Bowl. I made that drink before I got a reprint of that tome for I was able to source it from David Wondrich's Imbibe! Many of the cocktails in Schmidt's book were weird ones, and it was not surprising that the 2010 Beta Cocktails zine (the photocopied one that came out between the book printing of 2009 Rogue Cocktails and 2011 Beta Cocktail books) hosted what appeared to be a riff on it called the Spice Trade with overlapping absinthe, kümmel, and curaçao ingredients.
For an absinthe, I selected Kübler for its softer balance seems to work the best in my collection with absinthe-forward recipes. Once prepared, the Weeper's Joy offered an anise and caraway aroma that preceded a sweet grape sip. Next, caraway, cumin, orange, anise, and other spice notes filled the swallow. Overall, it was the orange flavors that donated an elegance to the combination.