The Sazerac

I have a real fascination with the history of New Orleans and in particular, the cocktails of the area. Our last post was the Stormy Morning, created in New Orleans. I'm going to continue the NOLA thread with the Sazerac.

At its core, the Sazerac is a variety of an Old Fashioned--it has a spirit, bitters, and sugar--but this goes a bit farther with the addition of absinthe. Traditionally, the drink is mixed using two glasses. The glass the drink is served in has an absinthe rinse (that means you pour a little in the glass, swish it around, and dump out whatever doesn't stick to the glass) and the second glass is where you actually mix the ingredients together. The drink is then poured into the rinsed glass and served.

Originally, the Sazerac was made with cognac, specifically, Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils. Around 1850, Sewell Taylor sold his tavern and began importing this cognac. The fellow (Aaron Bird) who bought Taylor's bar renamed it the Sazerac House and started serving, you guessed it, the Sazerac Cocktail. The cognac was joined by Peychaud's Bitters, which were created right down the street by Antoine Amadie Peychaud, a local druggist. The cognac switched to rye around 1870, during a Phylloxera epidemic in France that devastated their grape crops. Supposedly, the Sazerac is America's oldest cocktail, whether that's true or not is probably up for debate, like most cocktail history. Regardless of that, though, the Sazerac is the official cocktail of New Orleans, and that's pretty cool.

Currently, the Sazerac Company owns Sazerac Rye, Peychaud's Bitters, and about twenty different bourbon distilleries. Their website is pretty amazing, in an Internet circa 2001 sort of way, so you should really check it out.

I pulled this recipe from the Savoy Cocktail book, but there are obviously a ton of variations out there, including one from the Sazerac page. As a note, if you're using the Savoy, you'll notice that the measurements are, well, a bit odd. There are units of measurement like wine-glass, dessert-spoon, and hooker (!). I did a quick search and found this very useful page: Traditional Units of Measure Pertaining to Mixology. I bookmarked it; you should, too. Anyway, the ingredients:

• 1 Lump of sugar
• 1 Dash Angostura or Peychaud's Bitters (I used Peychaud's)
• 1 Glass rye or Canadian Club Whiskey (I used Sazerac Rye)
• 1 Dash of absinthe (I used Absente)

Mix all ingredients except absinthe in a glass, strain into a chilled glass, and top with one dash of absinthe. Garnish with a lemon peel. 

This is definitely a very aromatic drink. I would say the absinthe is mainly an olfactory addition; the rye covers the taste of it fairly well, although the tiniest amount of absinthe has the ability to cut through basically any other liquid. The bitters are also an aromatic addition, but you can taste both the absinthe and the bitters ever so slightly. I love this drink, but the first time I made one, I was completely overwhelmed by the absinthe. After that first shock, though, it grew on me, and now I have them on a regular-ish basis. So, if you make one and you think, WHOA, don't give up! Think on it for a few days and make another because you might be surprised.