opera comique

1 oz Aquavit (Linie)
1 oz Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)
3/4 oz Cynar
1/4 oz Green Chartreuse
1 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with an orange twist.Two Thursdays ago, I was in the mood to tinker for Negroni Week despite the end result being nothing like a Negroni. I became inspired by the Cynar-Chartreuse combination of the Drink of Laughter & Forgetting and by the structure of the Tailspin. I was considering gin as the spirit, but that put the mix too close in the direction of my Continuum from Our Fathers back in 2018. The Cynar made me think of the Trident and its aquavit, so I made that switch. I dubbed this the Opera Comique (a/k/a Murderer's Corner) after one of the most bawdy concert saloons in old San Francisco run by Happy Jack Harrington in the 1870s as discovered in Herbert Asbury's book The Barbary Coast. The final result proffered orange, herbaceous, and caramel aromas. Next, grape and caramel notes mingled on the sip, and the swallow followed through with caraway, vegetal, herbaceous, and orange flavors.