dark in the corner

1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac
1 1/2 oz Cocchi Sweet Vermouth
1/8 oz Marie Brizard Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
1/8 oz Fernet Branca
7 drop Fee's Old Fashioned Bitters (Fee's Whiskey Barrel-Aged)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with an orange twist.Two Fridays ago, I received my copy of Cure: New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix'Em by Neal Bodenheimer and Emily Timberlake. For a first go at the book, I selected Dark in the Corner by Turk Dietrich at Cure. The text describes how Turk is a brooding guy, and a couple of his regulars who shared his dark sense of humor as well as usually sat in the corner of the bar wanted a Manhattan-like nightcap. The end result here began with orange and Cognac notes on the nose. Next, a grape-driven sip flowed into brandy flavors with apricot, gentian-bitter, and cinnamon accents on the swallow.