Cocktail recipe
La Louisiane
New Orleans after dark: rye, bitters, absinthe and Benedictine in a velvet coat.
Ingredients
- 45 ml (1½ oz) rye whiskey
- 22.5 ml (¾ oz) sweet red vermouth
- 15 ml (½ oz) Bénédictine-style herbal liqueur
- 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
- 2.5 ml (½ tsp) absinthe
- Garnish: 1 cocktail cherry
Preparation
Stir the rye, vermouth, herbal liqueur, bitters and measured absinthe over ice until beautifully cold. Strain into a chilled coupe, then sink one cherry to the bottom. The absinthe should bloom as an aroma, not take over the drink.
Glassware
Chilled coupe
History
Stanley Clisby Arthur documented the *Cocktail à la Louisiane* in his 1937 *Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em*, identifying it as the house specialty of Restaurant de la Louisiane, a French Quarter dining institution. His printed recipe used **equal parts** rye whiskey, Italian vermouth and Bénédictine, with dashes of absinthe substitute and Peychaud's bitters. That establishes a restaurant association and printed specification, not a named individual inventor. The modern rye-heavy formula trims the herbal sweetness while retaining the essential New Orleans ingredients.
Mixology View
We deliberately modernize Arthur's equal-parts original: more rye, less Bénédictine, measured absinthe. The source recipe should be preserved as an historical variation, not quietly overwritten.