street of crocodiles

1 1/2 oz Apple Brandy (Laird's Bonded)
1/2 oz Mezcal (Banhez)
3/4 oz Amaro Meletti
1/4 oz Fernet Branca
1/4 oz Grenadine

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with an orange twist.While writing up the Clever Visual Metaphor, I became inspired to craft a new drink using the spirit-amaro base supplemented by small amounts of Fernet and grenadine structure. Instead of the Bourbon in the Clever Visual Metaphor, I opted for a split of apple brandy and mezcal. And in place of the Ramazzotti, I went first with Averna since it paired well with grenadine in the Sicilian Message, but I was not satisfied. I repeated it with Cynar and Amaro Montenegro with similar results, and it was not until I landed on Meletti, that I was pleased. For what to call it, I went back to a list I copied over from my 2013-15 era Russell House Tavern notebook with possible drink names and chose the Street of Crocodiles; that made the list from reading Bruno Schulz's 1934 short story when I was on a surrealist kick in the late 1990s that was amplified when I watched the Brothers Quay stop-motion animation short years later. With the Meletti, the Street of Crocodiles crawled to the nose with orange, caramel, fruity, and floral aromas. Next, caramel and berry notes on the sip snapped at apple, vegetal, minty-herbal, menthol, and smoky flavors on the swallow.