Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with an orange twist.
This prospers with a slightly smoky Scotch or some Islay mixed in with a blend.
I was inspired by the apricot-Sfumato combination in the Smooth Operator that I recently made. I swapped the Armagnac-rye duo for Scotch-apple brandy, dropped the Benedictine, and exchanged the two bitters for absinthe. Originally, I tried Peychaud's Bitters here since they generally work well with Scotch, apple brandy, and apricot, but the balance was just too dark especially with the Sfumato, so I replaced it with the brightening action of absinthe. For a name, I kept the Smooth Operator in mind and dubbed this the Mountebank which dictionaries define as "a person who deceives others, especially in order to trick them out of their money; a charlatan" and "a person who sells quack medicines from a platform."