copperhead

2 oz Bonded Apple Brandy (Laird's)
1/2 oz Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse)
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with a cherry. The Pegu Club eshewed a garnish, but I included it as described in the version in Madrusan's book. Two Thursdays prior, I selected my copy of The Madrusan Cocktail Companion book off the shelf and decided to make the Copperhead created at Manhattan's Pegu Club. A video of a Pegu Club's Ricky Agustin making the drink for Forbes confirms the recipe but did not call for a garnish, and a Punch article on the Diamondback Lounge mentions this as a riff. Essentially, the Pegu Club reversed the rye-forward classic into an apple brandy-strong one, and changed the ratio from 2:1:1 to 4:1:1 to dry it out a touch (not to mention the modern concern of reducing the cost given what Chartreuse costs these days if you can find it). With Madrusan's added garnish, the Copperhead slithered to the senses with a cherry and apple aroma. Next, honey and apple notes on the sip settled into apple, herbal, rye, and pine flavors on the swallow.