Working until 11pm, sorting through piles of bills, days that end in “y”; there are those stressful occasions in life which deserve (require?) a relaxing nightcap. Though you’d be forgiven for wanting to empty half a bottle of bourbon into a novelty stein when such a situation arises, this approach lacks the calming ritual that the preparation of a fine libation can provide. It also encourages the kind of drinking that causes people to be compelled to stop drinking and start attending weekly meetings.
Better then to mix yourself something delicious. My preference is usually for something along the lines of a negroni or a manhattan, but I’m also partial, particularly in the winter months, to something sweet and spicy such as a mulled wine or glögg. Here I’ve taken the basic structure of a Bronx (with a nod to a couple of the other Boroughs), but increased the sweetness and bitterness by swapping the juice for the spiced citrus syrup from the previous post, increasing the quantity of red vermouth, and adding a dash of bitters. For the gin, I’d advise something fairly bold, as there are a fair few other flavors at work, and one can vary the sugar content by playing with different vermouths and the ratio of sweet to dry.
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Orange Borough
45ml gin
30ml sweet (red) vermouth
15ml dry vermouth
15ml spiced citrus syrup (link)
Dash Agnostura bitters
Combine ingredients with ice in a large glass or cocktail shaker and stir, then strain into a chilled old fashioned glass over a large ice cube. Serve with a twist of orange peel.
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The Functional Alchemist 
Looks great! I have a completely nerdy question though… that orange twist looks great, any pointers on making a good garnish like that? Mine always end up either tiny, or huge with too much pith. Cheers!
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It’s rather difficult to demonstrate without pictures (perhaps there’s a post in it), but I go about it in this way;
1. Go around the orange taking off a large strip of peel (end to end is possible, but the maximum length of peel you can remove is shorter). Don’t worry about getting lots of pith.
2. Press the peel, pith up, flat against a bench and run a knife between the peel and the pith. Do it slowly and use a smallish, easy to handle knife (I use a cheap little plastic handle serrated Victorinox paring knife), and keep the peel flat, and you should be able to separate most of the pith from the peel.
3. Trim it back to straighten the edges and ends.
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