jabberwock

1 oz Gin (Maine Craft Distilling Alchemy)
1 oz Cocchi Americano
1 oz Manzanilla Sherry (La Gitana)
2 dash Orange Bitters (Scrappy's)

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

Two Sundays ago, I ventured into Michael Madrusan and Zara Young's A Spot at the Bar book and landed on the Jabberwock. The original found in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book called for gin, dry sherry, orange bitters, and a South African aperitif wine called Caperitif, and it was named after the creature from Lewis Carroll's 1871 poem. I did not make the drink when I first discovered it for Caperitif was unavailable for quite a while until it was recently resurrected (to unknown accuracy) a few years ago. The original Caperitif was a quinquina likened to Lillet. Erik Ellestad's research which helped him make every recipe in the 1930 book led him to the conclusion that Cocchi Americano was the closest modern day substitute in a single bottle, and perhaps a 6:1 mix of Dolin Blanc to Amaro Montenegro might approximate the flavors as well.With Cocchi Americano and Manzanilla as the quinquina and sherry choices, the Jabberwock recited a lemon and briny sherry opening stanza to the nose. Next, grapefruit and peach notes from the Cocchi Americano filled the sip, and the swallow yielded gin, savory sherry, and dry orange flavors.