Break for Station Identification

Well, there's been a small coup here - my bottle of JD green label from last August's Carolina adventure played a role - I test-drove an 1890's style Manhattan recipe , twice (courtesy of David Wondrich's book, Imbibe) -- and in this buggy-whip era drink, my favorite top-flight, pre-Prohibition marachino cherries (Luxardo, beyond awesome) lost out to a simple lemon twist ... the first is really good, but the latter is even better (as Wondrich himself suggested, though I don't know he tried the Luxardo cherries in this). Here's the recipe, for your delectation:

Manhattan

1/2 tsp of simple syrup (the recipe calls for gum syrup, but since sources for food-grade gum arabic are few and far between, I cheated here)
2 dashes of angostura bitters
1/4 tsp absinthe
1/4 tsp Luxardo marachino liqueur http://www.luxardo.it/splash_intro.aspx?language=en
2 oz whiskey (JD green was lovely)
1 oz sweet Italian vermouth.

Stir with ice, strain into cocktail glass ... and alas, a lemon twist.

Skulls 'n bones -- the most versatile decorating accessories you're ever likely to own! More on this later ...