The presence of mulling spices in a drink is no big thing, except when the spices are actually mulling in the drink. Adding cloves and lemon peel to hot alcohol results in lightning-fast extraction of flavors that at first sip are delicious but can quickly become overwhelming. By the time you’re done, you feel like you need to dip yourself in alcohol to extract all the clove and limonene from you. Let bitters do the heavy aromatic lifting, and enjoy the stability of balanced bitter sweetness as it supports the boozy, spicy warmth at the heart of the drink.