Rebirth of the Robert Burns
[...] a brand of cigar named for the Scottish bard certainly existed in the early 20th century, so it's certainly possible that the drink was created in honor of a big spender at the Waldorf, back before the great drought of 1920 to 1933.
The Waldorf recipe also includes a dash of absinthe and a dash of orange bitters, for instance, whereas "The Savoy Cocktail Book," printed in 1930, replaces those with Benedictine.
[...] just to round things out, in the 1950s, David Embury, author of "The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks," suggested that Drambuie could be used instead of either absinthe or Benedictine.
"To happily confuse things more," as he says, he asked the Waldorf Astoria pastry kitchen to make shortbread cookies as a garnish.
2 1/4 ounces Sheep Dip 8-Year-Old or other blended scotch whiskey1 1/4 ounces sweet vermouth 1/3 ounce Benedictine6 dashes absinthe1 lemon twist, as garnish2 shortbread cookies, as garnishInstructions: