blacksmith

1 1/2 oz Great King Street Scotch (2 oz Cutty Sark Prohibition)
1 oz Peat Monster Scotch (1/2 oz Laphroaig 10 Year)
1/2 oz Amaro Abano
1 bsp Honey Syrup (1:1)
5 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into an absinthe-rinsed (Kübler) double old fashioned glass, and garnish with lemon oil from a twist.Two Tuesdays ago, I went back to the files on my hard drive and found the recipes that I had amassed from Russell House Tavern to see if there were any recipes worth revisiting for the blog. There, I landed upon Les Kostinas' Scotch Sazerac riff, the Blacksmith, from around 2013. The format with the Scotch and amaro reminded me of the Little Easy from the day before, and the name conjured up thoughts about Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop bar on the less touristy stretch of Bourbon Street. After assembling this drink that I had not made since 2014 or so, it proffered a lemon and anise aroma. Next, caramel, malt, honey, and orange peel notes on the sip hammered into smoky Scotch, herbal, black pepper, and anise flavors on the swallow.