riddles in the dark

1 1/2 oz Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse Bonded)
3/4 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth (Martini Grand Lusso)
1/2 oz Pedro Ximenez Sherry (Oxford 1970)
1/4 oz Nardini Amaro
1/2 tsp Rothman & Winter Orchard Cherry (Cherry Heering)
8 drop Bitter End Moroccan Bitters (Jerry Thomas Decanter)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with lemon oil from a twist.

After paying homage to the 10 year anniversary of Rogue Cocktails, I picked up the edited successor, Beta Cocktails, which had just turned 8 years old. There, I was drawn in by Riddles in the Dark by Al Sotack when he was at the Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. in Philadelphia. Interestingly, Al now co-owns Jupiter Disco in Brooklyn with the book's author Maks Pazuniak, and this cocktail appeared on a recent menu there. The drink name is a reference to The Hobbit where Gollum challenged Bilbo with said word games, and the book described things as, "We could wax poetic on the harmony and narrative of the cocktail, or we could point out that it tastes like an oatmeal raisin cookie."
Riddles in the Dark greeted the nose with lemon oil over raisin aromas. Next, grape with a hint of cherry on the sip led into rye, raisin, and herbal bitter flavors on the swallow.