poke the bear

1 oz Bourbon (Evan Williams Bonded)
1 oz London Dry Gin (Tanqueray)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
1/4 oz Allspice Dram (Hamilton)
1/4 oz Simple Syrup
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with an orange twist. After thinking about the apricot-allspice dram combination in the Pleasure Island. I became inspired to cross two classics – the Pendennis Club and the Lion's Tail. Even if the only overlapping ingredient was lime juice, the two drinks have the same spirit, liqueur (with or without simple syrup), lime, and bitters structure. For a name, I worked with "twisting the lion's tail" as slang for provoking the British and dubbed this one Poke the Bear perhaps to bring it more in the direction of Kentucky. I also find it odd that the British half here calls for Bourbon and the Kentucky half calls for gin. In the glass, the Poke the Bear opened up with orange, apricot, allspice, and pine aromas. Next, lime and caramel notes on the sip woke up Bourbon, juniper, apricot, and allspice flavors on the swallow with an anise finish.