Cocktail: Saratoga After Dark

I used the Saratoga Cocktail as the inspiration behind the 12 Years a Slave cocktail I made for my Oscar Cocktails series. It's an old-fashioned cocktail dating back to the 19th Century from Saratoga Springs, New York.

While trying to find something interesting to do with my bottle of Don Ciccio & Figli Concerto, an espresso and barley liqueur, I was paging through David Wondrich's book Imbibe and came across his version of the Saratoga. Thus inspired again, I modified the Saratoga with coffee liqueur as an after dinner drink, also substituting chocolate bitters for the Angostura and adding an orange peel.

Cocktail: Saratoga After Dark

1 oz. rye whiskey
1 oz. Don Ciccio & Figli Concerto (coffee liqueur)
1 oz. sweet vermouth (Dolin Rouge)
2 dashes chocolate bitters
Orange peel

Combine the whiskey, liqueur, vermouth and bitters in a cocktail mixing glass with ice. Stir until very cold. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Squeeze the orange peel over the drink to express its oils then drop into the glass as a garnish.