Sazerac Recipe

INGREDIENTS 

10ml Absinthe

50ml Rye Whiskey

1 tsp Sugar

3 Dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

1 Dash Angostura Bitters

1 Lemon Peel

METHOD

Pour the Absinthe over ice into a tumbler glass, swirl around the glass and leave it to sit while you prepare the next step. Take a mixing glass and add the sugar, Peychaud’s bitters, Angostura bitters and lemon peel and muddle the ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved. Add ice along with the Rye Whiskey and gently stir all ingredients together to blend and chill the drink. Pour away the Absinthe and ice from the tumbler and strain the cocktail into the tumbler.

GARNISH

Lemon Twist

PRO TIP

If you don’t feel comfortable muddling the sugar into the cocktail, use 15ml sugar syrup instead.

ABOUT THE SAZERAC

This cocktail will appeal to those that enjoy an Old Fashioned, though the distinct difference is that this cocktail uses Peychaud’s bitters instead of Angostura bitters – though we add a small amount of Angostura bitters to further enhance the flavour profile of the drink.

For the original Sazerac recipe, a cognac by the name of Sazerac-de-Forge-et-Fils was mixed with Peychaud bitters at the original Sazerac Coffee house in New Orleans. In the late 1890s, the cognac was replaced by rye whiskey and a modern Sazerac can be made using either a cognac (brandy) or a rye whiskey. 

Different types of rye whiskey will change the flavour profile of the cocktail changing either the smoothness, spice, or sweetness of the cocktail. If you want to test out a truly original Sazerac, opt for the branded Sazerac Rye Whiskey which – as the name suggests – is a whiskey made specifically for the Sazerac cocktail.