dark horse

1 1/2 oz Appleton 21 Year Rum (Appleton Reserve)
1/2 oz Bordelet Calvados (Boulard VSOP)
1/2 oz Amaro Nardini
1/2 oz Grand Marnier (Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao)

Stir with ice, strain into a Nick & Nora glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.
Two Fridays ago, I was inspired by the article in Punch Drinks about the Cocktail Codex book and therefore pulled it off the shelf. In its pages, I found the Dark Horse crafted by Jeremy Oertel in 2017. Once stirred and strained, the Dark Horse offered lemon oil over a caramel apple nose. Next, the caramel continued into the sip where it led into rum, apple, minty-herbal, and orange flavors on the swallow.