When the rest of the country was muddling through the dark ages of cocktails, certain bars hung on to doing things the right way, and even fewer areas. In certain communities there were lights that burned bright enough in the darkness that lit an entire area. Some areas just don’t like changing period and clung to their traditions. New Orleans is the latter. If you ever need proof that time does stand still go to Galatoire’s for lunch on a Friday and see tables of young 20 something gentlemen all outfitted in blue blazers and sipping sazarac cocktails. New Orleans clung to its traditions and saved the cocktail culture of the United States even if some was lifted via an ocean of spinning daiquiris and Hurricanes from mixes. Still if it were not for her people New Orleans would not be home to so many great cocktail venues. For a restaurant in New Orleans, a bartender must to know many regularly asked for cocktails, but the sazerac is the most imperative, and this was the recipe that I taught.
Ingredients
2 oz rye (Sazerac of course if you can find it.)
3 oz herbsaint
1 Sugar Cube
1 dash Angostura Bitters
3 dashes Peychaud Bitters
Garnish
Lemon Twist
Glassware
8 oz or short old fashioned glass
Assembly
Chill old fashioned glass. Place sugar cube on bar spoon and put bitters on cube to begin dissolving it. Place spoon in shaker and add rye. Stir vigorously enough to get all sugar from spoon. Put a nickel sized pool of Herbsaint into the old fashioned glass. Spin the glass over a sink so the Herbsaint covers the inside of the glass. Shake the contents of the shaker and strain into the Herbsaint coated glass. Run the lemon pell around the rim of the glass and then into the cocktail.
Suggestions
Rye is incredibly popular these days, so with any boom there are lots of busts. Try anything you like but here are some to keep a particular eye out. High West Rendezvous Rye is from one of the newer craft distillers out on the market and this is an excellent bottling. Michter’s US 1 Straight American Whiskey is one of the best values on the market. While not technically a rye, it still makes a tasty sazerac. Of course there is the namesake and Sazerac 6 year old rye is tasty and full of spicy character but E.H. Taylor Straight Rye also from Buffalo Trace distillery is simply spectacular as I said in my blind tasting notes from the International Whisky Competition 2015. Unfortunately as in most things, the best are usually harder to find.
