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.

The Old Fashioned

If I had to pick my favorite cocktail, I'd say it is the Old Fashioned. There are a number of reasons for this choice: number 1, I really like bourbon and rye (you can use either of these); secondly, they are super easy to make and I almost always have all the ingredients; third, this drink was named in my hometown, Louisville, in the late 1800s. Also, I like the OF because I really don't have to measure anything. I drop a sugar cube in a glass, add a little soda water, throw in some bitters, muddle a bit, and then pour some bourbon in a glass. I only dirty the glass and the muddler, and they are quick to make. The Old Fashioned has a long history--the drink has its origins in the early 1800s and was essentially any combination of a spirit, bitters, sugar, and water. As time went on, other ingredients were added and by the 1880s, this original recipe was called the "Old Fashioned." The rumor goes that this name was given to the bourbon-based version in Louisville at a club named the Pendennis Club.

As I said, the original recipe could include rye, bourbon, whiskey, brandy, gin, and so on. In fact, in The Savoy Cocktail Book, Harry Craddock says, "This Cocktail can be made with Brandy, Gin, Rum, etc., instead of Rye Whiskey." Modern-day Old Fashioneds, though, generally use some whiskey (bourbon, rye, or plain ol' whiskey) or, if you live in Wisconsin, brandy.

That takes me to the monstrosity known as a Wisconsin Old Fashioned (see this New York Times article on the matter). The main difference with this is, of course, the brandy, but there is also the trouble with what should be seltzer water. Wisconites take their Old Fashioneds in a couple of different ways: sweet, with 7-Up instead of seltzer; or sour, with sour mix or Squirt instead of seltzer. Both versions are flat-out too sweet, because they aren't just using a splash of the 7-Up or Squirt, they top off the whole drink with that. Warning: wicked hangover in the works. This state loves these so much you can even buy them premade, in a bottle.

If this is your preferred variety of Old Fashioned, well, to each their own. I, too, came to this drink from a decidedly not old fashioned route--the fruit salad version of the Old Fashioned. These came to popularity in the 2000s and involved muddling an orange slice, a cherry, etc., in with the sugar, bitters, and soda water. I drank the OF this way for a few years before I finally took the dive and started drinking them the Don Draper way. Let's not ignore the popularity of Mad Men as an important turn in the history of the Old Fashioned. That's how I was introduced to this glorious mix. Don and I will always have this drink in common.

Anyway, to the recipe:

• 1 sugar cube (or 1/2 teaspoon loose sugar)
• 3 dashes Angostura bitters (Angostura is just a suggestion; I like orange bitters in mine, which could be Angostura Orange, Regan's Orange Bitters No. 6, or Bittercube Orange bitters)
• 2 oz spirit of choice (I am a big fan of Bulleit Rye in these, but for this one, we used Four Roses Single Barrel bourbon)
• Splash of club soda (or seltzer)

In an old-fashioned glass (get it?), add the sugar cube, bitters, and club soda. Muddle to a slurry using a muddler or wooden spoon. Add ice and bourbon or rye. Give a slight stir to the mix, but keep the slurry in the bottom. Garnish with a large orange peel.

I like bourbon and rye on the rocks, and this is just a nice extension from that. By not stirring the sugar slurry in, you get a nice kick of sweetness on the last drink. The orange from the bitters and the garnish makes it citrus-y, and the bourbon or rye gives it a nice caramel-y and vanilla flavor. This is a drink you can really make your own; you can try different bitters (but I'd stay in the aromatic or citrus families) and different spirits until you find a mix you can call your own. 

Scofflaw

Ever since I started making cocktails, I have had a running list of drinks I wanted to try but had to hold off on because I didn't have any grenadine. Now, grenadine is a common ingredient, and you're probably thinking that you've seen grenadine in every liquor store, so what's the problem? Well, the bottles you see most often, usually Rose's, are really just corn syrup with red dye. Grenadine should be made out of pomegranates -- the name is actually derived from the French word for pomegranate. I have seen recipes for making my own grenadine from pomegranate juice, but not only have I not gotten around to doing that, I'm slightly reluctant, because homemade syrup has a limited shelf life, even in the refrigerator. I'll make homemade simple syrup, because if I have to throw some out, it's no big deal, but I have been more hesitant about anything that involves more pricey ingredients, and a bottle of pomegranate juice is going to make a batch of grenadine so large I would never finish it.

I have searched around and read reviews online, to see if there are any commercially-available grenadines that are made from pomegranate and have an authentic and, more importantly, tasty flavor. I read good things about Sonoma syrups, and the last time I'd been at our local liquor store (the big one) they'd started carrying some of the flavors, but no grenadine. Today, we went to the store for some gin, and I checked to see if they'd gotten the grenadine -- and they had. I felt like I finally had the key to that great big room full of cocktails that I'd put off until I acquired some grenadine!

One that I'd marked in my copy of Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails is the Scofflaw. I wanted to start here, because this cocktail has a pretty hefty dose of grenadine, and not just a dash or two. The recipe in the book calls for rye, and I do like rye -- but I don't have any at the moment, and since I was so excited to finally be holding a bottle of grenadine, I decided I didn't want to wait until someday when I get around to getting another bottle of rye. I figured it was okay to substitute bourbon, as we usually do when we're making Manhattans and we're out of rye. It was delicious!

1.5 oz rye (or bourbon)
1 oz dry vermouth
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
3/4 oz real pomegranate grenadine

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass (I double-strained through a fine mesh tea strainer, to catch any solids from the lemon juice, but it's not mandatory). Garnish with a lemon twist.

A note about dry vermouth: I was never a fan of dry vermouth until I tried Dolin. It has a lot more complex flavor than the usual dry vermouths. It will change the way you think about martinis! But that's another post...