I tried many different gins. The best IMO is london dry, any modern crisp clean gin will also work well, Spicy gins, e.g. OPIHR work nicely too. However floral e.g. Hendricks Flora Adora do not, IMO. This isnt a bitter drink and the creme de cacao is added to smoth it out but can be omitted if desired. if it is too bitter I suggest subing in a softer fernet, e.g. Darma or Jelinek. In this recipe I use a half ounce of See The Elephant, an arugula-based (rucola) amari, from the Cilento coast. it is a modern "farm-to-bottle" amaro , offering a more balanced, sweeter profile with notes of caramel and pepper spice. A related amaro, Ischia Rucolino is a traditional, intense digestif from the island of Ischia (Naples) with notes of citrus and bitter herbs. If this is used as a substitute for See The Elephant adjust the portion to 1/16 oz

To make apple cider syrup, simmer 1/2 cup apple cider and 1/2 cup cane sugar until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, add 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 star anise pods, 1 tbsp allspice berries, and 1 tsp whole cloves then steep for an hour. Strain into a bottle then refrigerate.

Olive-mozzarella washed gin: Chop up 50g fresh mozzarella and combine with 1 oz. olive oil and 4 oz. gin. Sous vide at 140F for a couple of hours. Freeze overnight. Fine strain.

These specs are based on "parts" rather than ounces, and probably only a total of a 2 oz. pour. I upped it to modern standards of a 3 oz total pour from original published recipe proportions. I personally reduced the orange juice from 1 to 3/4, and it also works at 1/2. Also, grenadine varies, my batch was from pomegranate molasses and worked perfect. Absinthe also works well with a heavy dash or two, and even all the way up to 1/4 oz. if you so desire.