Schuman's Alley (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

The name is a nod to Tin Pan Alley. This cocktail amounts to an embellished Upside Down Martini. All the usual characters appear, from blanco and Americano vermouth to yellow Chartreuse. Of course there's the gin--MurLarkey ImaGination--and a dash of allspice and grapefruit bitters. It's a hit squad of flavors in a rich and fruity wincocktail that takes longer to drink than you'd expect. 

This drink, like any Martini, benefits from lifting bitters with citrus and spice. These minute ingredients help other flavors rise to the surface. Some changes to the recipe in my home bar are to be expected for bitters. My allspice dram isn't especially bitter, but I figured it would be fine. The Fee Brothers grapefruit bitters aren't hopped like the Death & Co. recipe specifies, but a dash of my homemade celery bitters has a similar effect to the hops and I often use celery and grapefruit in tandem to mimic hops and citrus. 

• 3/4 oz. contratta vermouth bianco (Dolin blanc used)
• 3/4 oz. Dolin dry vermouth
• 3/4 oz. Cocchi Americano
• 1 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used)
• 1 dash Bittermens hopped grapefruit bitters (1 dash Fee Brothers grapefruit and 1 dash celery bitters used)
• 1 dash Dale Degroff's pimento bitters (homemade allspice dram used)
• 1 lemon twist

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass (coupe shown). Twist the lemon peel over the drink, roll it up and skewer it on a cocktail pick and drop it in.