La Tour Eiffel
Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 29.6% ABV ∙
La Tour Eiffel is a stirred Cognac cocktail with triple sec, a gentian liqueur such as Suze and a dash of absinthe, served in a flute with a lemon twist.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Stir all ingredients with ice: Cognac 75 mlTriple sec 15 mlGentian liqueur 15 mlAbsinthe 1 dash
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Express a lemon twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Keep the absinthe to a single dash; any more and it drowns out the gentian's bitterness.
- There's no juice to hide an under-stirred drink, so stir for roughly 20–30 seconds, until the mixing glass frosts on the outside.
History
La Tour Eiffel is a modern Sazerac riff created in 2007 by bartender and drinks writer Gary "Gaz" Regan. Regan set out to imagine how the Sazerac might have turned out had it been invented in France rather than New Orleans, noting that the original Sazerac itself was first mixed with Cognac before rye whiskey became standard.
To carry the French theme, Regan kept the Sazerac's absinthe but swapped its sugar and Peychaud's bitters for French liqueurs, pairing an orange liqueur with a gentian-based aperitif such as Suze in place of the bitters. The drink takes its name from the Eiffel Tower as a symbol of France, reflecting its concept as a French counterpart to the New Orleans classic.
