Cocktail recipe
Sazerac
A New Orleans whiskey ritual: bitters, anise and citrus framed around a beautifully chilled spirit.
Ingredients
- 60 ml (2 oz) rye whiskey
- 7.5 ml (¼ oz) simple syrup (1:1)
- 3 dashes Peychaud's bitters
- 1 dash aromatic bitters
- 5 ml (1 tsp) absinthe for rinsing; discard excess
- Garnish: 1 lemon peel
Preparation
Rinse a cold rocks glass with absinthe and discard the excess. Stir rye, syrup and both bitters over firm ice until cold; strain into the prepared glass without ice. Express lemon peel over the surface and discard or rest at the rim.
Glassware
Chilled Old Fashioned / rocks glass
History
New Orleans is securely central to the Sazerac's history, but the familiar story that Antoine Peychaud personally invented the finished cocktail in his pharmacy in the 1830s is not established by contemporary evidence. Sazerac's own historical timeline documents Peychaud opening an apothecary in 1834, an 1852 newspaper reference to the Sazerac coffee house and an 1857 advertisement connecting Peychaud's bitters with that establishment. The drink's name comes from Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac. Rye whiskey and an absinthe rinse became features of the later drink, but the exact switch date, the role of phylloxera and a specific 1873 absinthe invention story should be treated as traditional explanations rather than proven milestones. New Orleans designated the Sazerac its official cocktail in 2008. **Attribution confidence:** See sourced account and qualifications above.
Mixology View
This is a cocktail built by a city's drinking culture, not securely traceable to one apothecary's moment of invention. We favour the spicy rye-and-absinthe house build while respecting its Cognac lineage.