home stretch

1 oz Añejo Tequila (Cimarron Reposado)
1 oz Calvados (Morin Selection)
3/4 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth (Lacuesta Rojo)
1/4 oz Vanilla Syrup
1 dash Miracle Mile Pecan Bitters
1 drop Root Beer Extract (1 dash Bitter Queens Sarsaparilla Bitters)

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass with an ice cube, and garnish with an orange twist.Two Sundays ago, I returned to Death & Co.'s Welcome Home book where I spotted Jeremy Oertel's 2016 Home Stretch. The Home Stretch was a Manhattan riff that had the tequila-Calvados combination that I experienced in the Spanish Caravan and used in my Hasta Manzana a few weeks later. In the glass, the Home Stretch approached the nose with an orange, apple, and vanilla aroma. Next, grape and apple notes on the sip flowed into vegetal, apple, and root beer flavors on the swallow with a vanilla and pecan finish.