A Singular Taste: The Monkey Gland Cocktail

To kick off a new bottle of absinthe (Leopold Brothers) I decided to go for a classic cocktail.  I leafed through Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails and came upon an interesting drink called the Monkey Gland Cocktail.  It looked to be a distant cousin of the Bronx Cocktail, both being based on gin and orange juice, but where the Bronx Cocktail uses dry and sweet vermouth, the Monkey Gland employed grenadine and absinthe.

Ingredients
1.5 ounces of gin
1.5 ounces of orange juice
1 teaspoon of grenadine
1 teaspoon of absinthe

Outcome
Looking at the ingredients, it appears to be a pretty balanced cocktail featuring dueling tastes.  This is not the case, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  The absinthe cuts through everything else.  The orange juice and gin provide background and cut the absinthe, while the grenadine adds a bit a sweetness.  The star is certainly the absinthe, though the aftertaste doesn't linger too harshly.  Absinthe, much like Chartreuse, rarely plays a supporting roll and instead presents as the featured flavor.  All in all, this drink was enjoyable - a complex sipper.  How much trouble it is to make depends on whether you use homemade grenadine and orange juice or go for the store-bought.  I'm not sure whether this cocktail would go over well with everyone, but I certainly enjoyed it.