tale of two roberts

2 oz Blended Scotch (Cutty Sark Prohibition)
1 oz Cinzano Sweet Vermouth (Martini Gran Lusso)
1/4 oz Benedictine
2 dash Pontarlier Absinthe (1/2 bsp Butterfly)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Fridays ago, I delved into The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book by Frank Caiafa. There, I was lured in by the Tale of Two Roberts which was Caiafa's combination of two of the three most common Bobby Burns variants: namely the Rob Roys that include Benedictine and absinthe, with the third one, the Drambuie option, only included in the commentary. The original Bobby Burns' genesis was attributed to the Old Waldorf Astoria bar itself and the recipe was included in the 1935 The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book as the absinthe variation, while the Savoy Cocktail Book a few years later published it as the more popular Benedictine one.
In the glass, the Tale of Two Roberts welcomed the nose with lemon, smoke, and anise aromas. Next, grape and malt on the sip sallied forward with Scotch and herbal flavors on the swallow with an anise and smoke finish.