la belle femme

1 3/4 oz Cognac or Armagnac (Larressingle VSOP Armagnac)
3/4 oz Dubonnet Rouge
1/2 oz Aperol
1/4 oz Absinthe (Butterfly)

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

Two Saturdays after having luck with my 2010 A Taste for Absinthe book, I decided to dust off the other absinthe recipe book from that year, namely Kate Simon's Absinthe Cocktails. There, I spotted Chris Hannah's La Belle Femme crafted at Arnaud's French 75 in New Orleans that he named for the beautiful women of the French Quarter. I then found the recipe on Food & Wine and merged the two keeping the Kate Simon's orange twist (opposed to a lemon one) but opting for the site's increased Dubonnet and Aperol measurements (up from 1/2 oz and 1/3 oz, respectively). Dubonnet and Aperol was one that I have seem Chris utilize before in the Decolletage, and it also appeared in PDT's Foreign Legion.La Belle Femme greeted the nose with an orange, grape, and licorice aroma. Next, grape, berry, and orange notes on the sip rounded the corner to brandy, fruity, and licorice-herbal flavors on the swallow.