save the last dance

3/4 oz Appleton 12 Year Jamaican Rum (Monymusk Gold)
3/4 oz Rhum JM Blanc (JM 100°)
3/4 oz Campari
3/4 oz Averna
4 dash Angostura Bitters

Smoke an old fashioned glass over ignited cinnamon stick bits. Stir with ice, strain into said glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with an orange twist and an orchid (omit).Two Saturdays ago, I had spotted a reference to the Save the Last Dance by Brian Maxwell, and I hunted down the recipe from his Shaker of Spirits blog. The drink was part of his 2020 Pandemic recipe series that included such hits as Ground Control to Major Donn and A Million Dreams, and he named this one after the 1960s The Drifters' song for his 68th entry. Overall, it read like a Right Hand with some rhum agricole, but with the Averna instead of sweet vermouth, it reminded me of the Guiding Light and The Departed. In the glass, the Save the Last Dance gave forth an orange, hint cinnamon smoke, and caramel aroma. Next, caramel notes on the sip waited up for grassy rum, bitter orange, caramel, herbal, and allspice flavors on the swallow.