the cheerful charlies

1/2 oz Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse)
1/2 oz Cognac (Courvoisier VS)
1 oz Dry Vermouth (Dolin)
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Orange Liqueur (Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.After someone at work requested a drink called The Final Say, a Last Word riff with crème de violette in place of the Chartreuse, I uncovered that it was a recipe from the Downtown Abbey Cocktail Book. When I learned that Lou Bustamante who penned The Complete Cocktail Manual had ghostwritten that book, I ordered a used copy off of eBay since it had a some decent sounding drinks in there. The one I started with was The Cheerful Charlies as an Old Pal riff with shades of the Lucien Gaudin Cocktail (via the Campari, orange liqueur, dry vermouth trio) that was named after the character Charles Grigg. In the glass, The Cheerful Charlies offered up Cognac and orange aromas. Next, a semi-dry orange sip led into rye, brandy, orange, and bitter orange flavors on the swallow.