The Sazerac

THE SAZERAC

Evening everyone! Today...it finally happened. I made the Sazerac. This has been one of the cocktails on my forever "to-do" list because of one ingredient that is extremely hard to acquire. Oh yes...yes indeed, and I'm talking about the Peychaud's Bitters. Halleluja that one friend-colleague of mine managed to fetch me one bottle so the time had come to make this beauty.

This version is the IBA one. This drink's history is rather intriguing and to make a long story short, you could make this two ways by choosing your main ingredient; cognac or rye (whiskey). I tried it with cognac (it being the "original" one before rye came along):

The recipe is quite straightforward and follows the IBA instructions:

• 5 cl cognac (I used Meukow VSOP)
• 2 ds Peychaud's bitters
• 1 sugar cube (okay I used 1 tsp of simple syrup because I didn't have a single (!) cube at home)
• ~1 cl absinthe (quality-wise not a big difference, read further why)
• a lemon peel (just the oils)
• a frozen (small) OF glass

Start by having your glass extremely cold ie. in the freezer. Give the three first ingredients a good long stir. Before straining it though, rinse the inside of your now cold glass with a small amount of absinthe. Then, discard the liquid (absinthe). Now strain your drink into your OF glass. Press the lemon zest oils over the drink but don't garnish it. Serve.

With a fresh nose to it, the Sazerac is sophisticated, strong, herbal, sweet-ish and just damn delicious! Can't wait to try it with the rye and see which one reigns supreme!

I got to say, this drink doesn't look like much but you know how they say, less is more? My initial opinion of this drink is that it kicks ass, big time.