Sazerac

New Orleans in a glass: rye, absinthe rinse, Peychaud’s bitters and a lemon twist.

• Rye whiskey60 ml
• Absinthe5 ml
• Sugar cube1
• Peychaud’s bitters3 dashes
• Lemon peelto garnish

Rinse a chilled rocks glass with absinthe. Muddle the sugar cube with the bitters, add the rye and stir with ice. Strain into the glass without ice and express a lemon peel over the top.

CREATED

1850s

CREATOR

Disputed

STATE

United States

LOCATION

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Sazerac was created at the Exchange Coffee House in New Orleans between 1850 and 1859, named for the Sazerac cognac sold by Sewell T. Taylor and built around Antoine Peychaud’s aromatic bitters. When phylloxera devastated French vineyards in the 1870s, Thomas Handy switched the base to rye whiskey; a dash of absinthe, added around the same time, was replaced by Herbsaint after the 1912 ban. In 2008 the Louisiana Legislature named it New Orleans’ official cocktail.