Sazerac Celebrates Spirit Of New Orleans

After everything New Orleans has been through (and still faces), you can't blame its denizens for wanting to kick up their heels a little bit right now.

In fact, we all should "laissez les bons temps rouler" in honor of New Orleans. After all, Mardi Gras is a long-standing tradition in this most unique of American cities, and after facing its recent adversities, celebrating life, love and the pursuit of happiness might just be the perfect tonic.

Well, almost. You'll need another kind of tonic to help wash it all down, too. Enter arguably the most New Orleans of cocktails: the Sazerac.

While first-time tourists throw back syrupy-sweet Hurricanes and multi-hued frozen daiquiris with impunity while toddling down Bourbon Street, the Sazerac is a quaff made for sipping, contemplating and watching the world go by (always an inspired pastime in New Orleans).

In fact, by most accounts (assuming, of course, that cocktail legends must be taken not with a grain, but a shaker of salt -- and healthy dose of skepticism), the Sazerac was born in The Crescent City. No wonder it has become the city's most emblematic drink.

One of the more prominent Sazerac stories goes something like this: In the 1800s, a Creole apothecary named Antoine Peychaud, who had created a proprietary "medicine" called Peychaud Bitters, began mixing his "tonic" for customers in egg cups, or "coquetiers" in French. (This became mispronounced, and the word "cocktail" was invented.) Peychaud's coquetiers quickly became quite popular, with customers stopping in at night for a quick toddy or two before going home. Peychaud named the drink Sazerac, after Sazerac de Forge et Fils, a cognac originally used in making the cocktail.

The original drink was made with absinthe, a potent anise-flavored liquor made with wormwood. It has been banned in the United States for decades, but an alternative named Herbsaint, also created in New Orleans, now is the standard.

Today, you can enjoy a Sazerac without taking a trip to the French Quarter. But you will need a bit of New Orleans to make one. Herbsaint is the preferred anise-flavored liquor for a Sazerac, and you must use Peychaud Bitters. Angostura Bitters are not a substitute. If you can't find it in your local liquor store, you can order it here.

The Original Sazerac Cocktail (from Sazerac.com)

"Take two heavy-bottomed 3 ½-oz. bar glasses; fill one with cracked ice and allow it to chill while placing a lump of sugar in the other glass with just enough water to moisten it. Crush the saturated lump of sugar with a bar spoon. Add a few drops (2-4) of Peychaud's Bitters, a jigger of rye whisky and several lumps of ice and stir briskly. Empty the first glass of ice, and dash in several drops of Herbsaint. Twirl the glass rapidly and shake out the absinthe (Herbsaint). Enough of it will cling to the glass to impart the desired flavor. Strain into this glass the rye whisky mixture prepared in the other glass. Twist a lemon peel over the glass, but do not put it in the drink."

Cheers!