I expressed an orange peel over the top and used as a garnish. For me it kind of cut the sting.

I'm going to try equal parts lemon juice/honey syrup next time. It was pretty sweet. I also want to try a differnet bitter for a little more contrast. Maybe Peychaud's or Angostura.

Too much clove. I would like to try it with whole cloves shaken; or cut down to one clove. They definitely don't need to be crushed of "muddled". I might like to try it without the clove all together. It seems like the pimento dram hasn't got a chance to speak.

Cut the CDC and simple down to 5ml each; add 1 more dash of Peychaud's and 1 dash of chocolate bitters; split base to 1 oz rye whiskey and 1 oz cognac.