horror hotel

1 oz Mezcal (Fidencio)
1/2 oz Apple Brandy (Laird's Bonded)
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
1/2 oz Cynar
2 dash Fee's Whiskey Barrel Bitters (or Fee's Old Fashioned)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with an orange twist.

As Halloween was approaching, I decided to craft this Autumnal smoky and bitter number as a The Misfits musical tribute. I was inspired by the Fall on Me to create a music-themed drink that utilized the apricot-herbal liqueur combination, and The Misfits fit the then approaching holiday. For this concept's herbal liqueur, I opted for Cynar which paired well with apricot in the One One Thousand, and apricot-Punt e Mes has proven to be a winner such as in the Slope. The song that matched the drink's and evening's feel was the Horror Hotel that they named after the 1960 movie.The Horror Hotel crept to the nose with an orange, smoke, vegetal funk, and cinnamon aroma. Next, caramel and apple flavors on the sip lurched into a smoky and bitter apricot swallow with a cinnamon-tinged finish.