American Trilogy

1 oz Applejack

1 oz Rye

3⁄8 oz Grade A dark color and robust taste maple syrup (called for 1/2 oz simple using 2:1 Grade B)

2 ds Orange bitters

1 twst Orange peel (as garnish)

Instructions

Combine liquid ingredients in a rocks glass. Stir with ice. Garnish with twist of orange peel.

History

Based on a cocktail developed at Little Branch in New York City.

Cocktail summary

Created by

John Peterson, Little Bird, Portland, Oregon (USA)

Is an

altered recipe

Reference

http://imbibemagazine.com/25-days-of-holiday-drinks-day-5-american-tril…

Curator

Not yet rated

Average

4.5 stars

(14 ratings)

Cocktail Book

From other users

A cocktail with backbone yet easy to drink. Used Wild Turkey rye 101 and Laird's Applejack, dash each of Reagan's and Bittercube Trinity bitters. Also Blis maple syrup (bourbon barrel matured) Rate 5.0
What a phenomenal old fashioned riff
As someone who makes his own maple syrup, I don't see the point of the original diluted maple syrup "syrup". Maple syrup is just boiled sap, and sweetness and consistency can vary greatly. Also, I used 1/2 oz. syrup.

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Comments

Lightly curated. Note that the original (at link) specifies making a maple syrup syrup, and stirring and straining over rocks.

While the Imbibe link traces provenance to Little Branch, there are also references out there to a similar but not identical cocktail put together at Milk & Honey that went by the same name.

Sasha Petraske founded both Milk & Honey and Little Branch.

The cocktail's co-creators are Richard Boccato and Michael McIlroy. They both worked at both bars. But Little Branch probably deserves the nod. In Regarding Cocktails, Boccatto's quote about this drink:

Once in the midst of a sleepy shift at Little Branch, I asked Mickey whether or not a cocktail could be built in the glass and devised with ingredients that were slightly different from those that we used to make our house Old Fashioned.

This is a modern classic & I'd think Bocatto & McIlroy's original version (rather than the minor alterations made in PDX) should be found somewhere here.