Calvados Sazerac
Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 32.2% ABV ∙
The Calvados Sazerac rebuilds the Sazerac on apple brandy, with a smaller pour of rye, an absinthe-rinsed glass, sugar syrup and two styles of bitters. Baked apple and orchard fruit lead, backed by a rye backbone and a whisper of anise, finishing dry and lightly bittered — a slow, cool-weather sipper.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Pour Absinthe into the chilled glass, roll to coat the inside, and discard the excess
- Stir the remaining ingredients with ice: Calvados 50 mlRye whiskey 15 mlSugar syrup 10 mlCreole-style bitters 3 dashesAngostura aromatic bitters 1 dash
- Strain into the Absinthe-rinsed glass
- Express a lime twist over the cocktail and discard
- Garnish with a lemon twist
Tips
- Chill the old-fashioned glass, then swirl the absinthe inside to coat the walls and discard any excess before straining the drink in, absinthe should perfume rather than dominate.
- Stir the calvados, rye, syrup, and bitters over large cubes for about 20-30 seconds to chill and dilute without bruising the apple notes of the calvados.
- Express both the lime and lemon twists over the surface and discard them; releasing the citrus oils gives aromatic lift that balances the two bitters.
- Measure the two bitters styles separately, adding the aromatic dash last since it is optional and can easily overpower the Creole-style bitters if overpoured.
History
The Calvados Sazerac is a variation on the Sazerac, a New Orleans cocktail traditionally credited to Antoine Amédée Peychaud, a Creole apothecary who ran a French Quarter pharmacy in the early 19th century and is said to have mixed his proprietary bitters into a brandy drink as early as the 1830s. The cocktail took its name from Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils, the French cognac brand poured at the Sazerac Coffee House, the New Orleans establishment that popularized the drink; rye whiskey later replaced the cognac after the phylloxera blight cut off France's brandy supply, and absinthe was swapped for other anise liqueurs once it was banned in the United States in 1912. Some sources call the Sazerac the oldest American cocktail, though drink historians, including David Wondrich, have disputed that claim. The Calvados Sazerac keeps the classic absinthe rinse and bitters but replaces the base spirit with Calvados, the French apple brandy, giving the drink an orchard-fruit backbone in place of the traditional cognac or rye.
