Sazerac
Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 21.1% ABV ∙
The Sazerac is an absinthe-rinsed mix of rye, bourbon and brandy, stirred with sugar and Creole-style bitters and finished with an expressed lemon twist. Anise from the absinthe rinse hits first, giving way to warm whiskey and brandy spice, with bitters and bright lemon oil drying out a long, boozy finish.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Pour the Absinthe 5 ml into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice, top up with Chilled water and stir
- Strain the contents of the old-fashioned glass into the chilled shot glass to be served as an optional extra alongside the Sazerac
- Stir the remaining ingredients with ice: Brandy 20 ml, straight Rye whiskey 20 mlBourbon 20 mlSugar syrup 10 mlCreole-style bitters 4 dashes
- Strain the drink into the Absinthe-coated glass
- Express a lemon twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Swirl the absinthe fully around the iced glass before straining it off, so every sip carries the aromatic rinse.
- Pre-chill the serving glass; a warm glass melts the absinthe rinse into the ice and dilutes the final pour.
- Stir the whiskey mixture over ice until well-chilled, then strain quickly into the absinthe-coated glass before it warms.
History
The Sazerac traces to mid-19th-century New Orleans, where Antoine Amédée Peychaud, a Creole apothecary in the French Quarter, is widely credited with dispensing a proprietary bitters used in an early version of the drink, though several drink historians dispute that he invented the cocktail itself. The drink took its name from Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils, a French cognac brand imported by Sewell Taylor and served at the Sazerac Coffee House, which by the 1850s was strongly associated with the cocktail. Around 1870 Thomas Handy took over the Sazerac House, and it was during this period that rye whiskey replaced cognac as the base spirit, a shift driven by the phylloxera blight that devastated French vineyards. Handy's recipe made its first printed appearance in William "Cocktail Bill" Boothby's 1908 book The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them, though that early published version called for Selner bitters rather than Peychaud's. After absinthe was banned in the United States in 1912, it was replaced in the recipe by anise liqueurs, notably locally made Herbsaint, introduced in 1934. Some sources claim the Sazerac as the oldest American cocktail and even the origin of the word "cocktail" itself, via a tale that Peychaud served it in an egg cup called a coquetier, but this etymology has been debunked since the word "cocktail" appeared in print years earlier. This variation follows that same lineage while combining both brandy and rye (with bourbon added) rather than settling on a single base spirit, reflecting the drink's historical shift between cognac and American whiskey.
FAQ
What is in a Sazerac cocktail?
An absinthe-rinsed glass holding a stirred mix of rye whiskey, bourbon, and brandy, sweetened with sugar syrup and seasoned with Creole-style bitters such as Peychaud's, finished with an expressed lemon twist. This build uses all three spirits together rather than a single whiskey, and the absinthe rinse is chilled and strained off separately, sometimes served alongside as a small extra shot.
What are the ingredients in a Sazerac?
Rye whiskey, bourbon, brandy, sugar syrup, and Creole-style bitters, stirred with ice and strained into a glass that has been rinsed with absinthe and garnished with a lemon twist.
What makes a Sazerac a Sazerac?
The defining move is the absinthe rinse: ice-cold water and absinthe coat a chilled glass, which is then emptied before the stirred whiskey mixture is strained in. That aromatic anise layer, plus the Creole-style bitters and the expressed lemon twist, is what separates it from an ordinary whiskey cocktail.
What's the difference between an Old Fashioned and a Sazerac?
An Old Fashioned is whiskey, sugar, and bitters stirred and served over ice with the spirit as the only alcohol, while a Sazerac adds brandy alongside the whiskey and uses an absinthe-rinsed glass with no ice in the final drink. The Sazerac is also strained up rather than served on the rocks.
Is a Sazerac a strong drink?
Yes, it runs about 21% ABV, which is strong for a cocktail since it is built almost entirely from whiskey and brandy with only a little sugar syrup, bitters, and an absinthe rinse to soften it. It is served up with no ice diluting the glass, so the strength stays consistent from first sip to last.
What is a substitute for absinthe in a Sazerac?
Herbsaint or another anise-forward liqueur can stand in for absinthe as the glass rinse, since both deliver the same licorice aromatics without changing the base recipe. Pastis works too, though it tends to be sweeter and less herbal than absinthe.
Can you drink Sazerac straight?
The Sazerac itself is already served neat, meaning up with no ice, so there is nothing to dilute further. In this build, the absinthe rinse used to coat the glass is strained off and can be served alongside as an optional small shot to sip on its own.
