Sazerac (New Orleans Style)
Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 33.6% ABV ∙
The Sazerac (New Orleans Style) is rye whiskey stirred with sugar syrup and Creole-style bitters, strained into an absinthe-rinsed old-fashioned glass.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- In a mixing glass, stir the remaining ingredients with ice: Rye whiskey 45 mlSugar syrup 10 mlCreole-style bitters 3 dashes
- Discard the ice from the chilled glass, rinse with Absinthe, and discard the excess
- Strain the cocktail into the Absinthe-rinsed glass
- Garnish with a lemon twist
Tips
- Swirl the absinthe until it coats the whole glass, then tip out the rest; you want a scent, not a puddle.
- There's no juice here to soften the rye, so stir it with the syrup and bitters over ice for a full 30 seconds.
History
The "New Orleans Style" label marks the city's classic form of the Sazerac: rye whiskey stirred with sugar and Creole-style bitters, then strained into a glass rinsed with absinthe.
Widely regarded as one of America's oldest named cocktails, the Sazerac takes its name from the Sazerac de Forge et Fils cognac, served with Antoine Amédée Peychaud's bitters at the Sazerac Coffee House in mid-19th-century New Orleans. When a phylloxera-driven brandy shortage hit France, rye whiskey gradually replaced the cognac and an absinthe rinse became part of the standard build; the earliest known published recipe appeared in 1908.
