Sazerac
The soul of New Orleans.
Cognac, sugar and Peychaud's Bitters stirred and served without ice in an absinthe-rinsed glass. Intense and aromatic, with anise and spice notes and a citrus finish from the lemon zest.
- IBA · The Unforgettables
- After dinner
- Stirred
- Glass
- Rocks glass
- Method
- Stirred
- Strength
- Very strong
- Time
- 4 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Ice
- No ice
Ingredients
Measures for 1 serving
-
Absinthe
10 ml
-
Sugar cube
1
-
Peychaud's bitters
2 dashes
-
Cognac
50 ml
Garnish
- Lemon twist
Proportions
How to make
- Chill an old fashioned glass.
- Rinse the glass with the absinthe.
- Add crushed ice to the glass and set it aside.
- Place the sugar cube in a mixing glass.
- Add two dashes of Peychaud's Bitters.
- Pour the cognac.
- Add ice to the mixing glass.
- Stir until the sugar dissolves and the drink is chilled.
- Discard the ice and excess absinthe from the glass.
- Strain the drink into the glass.
- Garnish with lemon zest.
The story
Origins
ProbableA plausible account, without definitive proof.
The Sazerac is tied to New Orleans and to pharmacist Antoine Amédée Peychaud, who made the bitters bearing his name in the 1830s; the legend that he invented the cocktail, or the word cocktail, does not hold up. According to the traditional account, made famous by Stanley Clisby Arthur in 1937, the drink was born in the 1850s at a coffee house that poured Sazerac-de-Forge cognac; around 1870 Thomas Handy, who ran the Sazerac Coffee House, switched to rye whiskey. Historian David Wondrich instead suggests it began as a bottled cocktail. The name appears in advertisements from 1900, and William Boothby printed the recipe in 1908.
Taste profile
- Strong
- 5 out of 5
- Herbal
- 3 out of 5
- Sweet
- 2 out of 5
- Spicy
- 2 out of 5
