two orchard thieves

1 1/2 oz Laird's 7 1/2 Year Apple Brandy (Laird's Bonded)
3/4 oz Bols Genever
1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino
1/4 oz Cynar

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with grated cardamom.

Two Fridays ago, I happened upon a drink entered into Kindred Cocktails by Misty Kalkofen called the Two Orchard Thieves. She created this split spirit number at Drink in 2010, and it appeared in a 2011 Boston.com article. The apple brandy-Genever combination is one that has worked well in Yvonne's Toronto and A Two-Fold Operation, and I utilized it in my Wooden Shoe, so I definitely was intrigued. My guess is that it was named after a line from Herman Melville's Moby Dick, "The act of paying is perhaps the most uncomfortable infliction that the two orchard thieves entailed upon us. But being paid – what will compare with it?"The Two Orchard Thieves snuck in with malty, apple, and cardamom aromas. Next, caramel and apple flavors on the sip made off into a bitter and malty apple and nutty swallow.