the thunderdome

1 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1 oz Fernet Branca
1/4 oz Maple Syrup
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Build in a rocks glass, add ice, stir to mix and chill, and garnish with an orange twist.

After getting home from my bar shift two Thursdays ago, I was in the mood for a nightcap, and I selected the Thunderdome from my short list of recipes that I had spotted recently on Kindred Cocktails. It was created by Adam Schmidt and Madeline Caldwell in 2012 at the Manhattan Inn in Brooklyn as a maple super-Toronto. Maple syrup worked great with Fernet in the Follow that Black Rabbit riff on the Apple Jack Rabbit, and I also tried it again more recently in the mezcal-laden Gastown. Given the name, it can join the other two Mad Max-themed drinks here, the Mad Max and the We Don't Need Another Hero, in a trilogy.When trying the Thunderdome, I wondered if "two flavor components enter, one flavor component leaves" given the balance of rye-maple to Fernet-Angostura in question. The nose was greeted by orange oil, maple, and menthol aromas. Next, a caramel sip bolstered by maple's richness was pursued by rye and bitter menthol flavors on the swallow. Overall, it was still a Fernet cocktail but with some of the rougher edges mollified by the maple.