model village

1 1/2 oz High West Rye (Rittenhouse)
1/2 oz Hine by H Cognac (Courvoisier VS)
3/4 oz Carpano Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)
2 tsp Giffard Crème de Mûre (Marie Brizard Blackberry Brandy)
1 tsp Port Charlotte 10 Year Scotch (Laphroaig 10 Year)
2 dash Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters (Jerry Thomas Decanter)

Stir with ice, strain into a Nick & Nora (coupe) glass, and garnish with a cherry.Two Fridays ago, the Reddit's cocktails forum offered up an interesting drink called the Model Village for day 20 of their yearly cocktail Advent calendar project. The recipe was created by Jack Stevenson at Death & Co. Denver in 2023 and sourced from Death & Co.'s online market page; that page described how Jack was inspired by the Red Ant created at Death & Co. Manhattan. I believe that I had not touched that bottle of blackberry liqueur for almost three years back when I made the At the Gates of Hell. All of the recipes on the blog including that one with it have been shaken citrus numbers, and the straight spirits nature of the Model Village reminded me of the classic Russell House Cocktail (rye, blackberry liqueur, simple syrup, orange bitters) that I made but did not write up when I was working at Russell House Tavern; luckily, the vermouth and Scotch here made this combination a lot more interesting. In the glass, the Model Village opened up with berry and grape aromas accented with a wisp of smoke. Next, a grape and dark fruit sip transformed into rye, Cognac, and peat smoke on the swallow.