stepwise improvement

1 1/4 oz Planteray Stiggins' Fancy Pineapple Rum
3/4 oz Campari
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
1/4 oz Maraschino (Luxardo)
2 dash Absinthe (20 drop St. George)

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with ice, and garnish with an orange twist. As I was sorting through the various months' posts to start on the year end wrap-up, I spotted Liholiho Yacht Club's Step into Liquid. Knowing how Maraschino can soften Campari – a trick that I learned at Eastern Standard with their Carnivale, I decided to modify their drink via the 1880s Improved Cocktail addition of Maraschino and absinthe. The drink that I dubbed Stepwise Improvement began with orange and nutty cherry aromas. Next, a dark grape sip flowed into rum, pineapple, bitter orange, nutty cherry, and anise flavors on the swallow. Overall, the addition of Maraschino and absinthe took the combination into a more tropical realm.