Sazerac

The Sazerac is synonymous with New Orleans and is part of a family of cocktails with similar ingredients. In our view, the Sazerac is a great starting point before trying the Vieux Carre or La Louisiane - we’ll cover those another day. The Sazerac is old! It dates back to 1838. Antoine Peychaud is credited with creating this drink at his apothecary, in the french quarter of New Orleans. He also created Peychaud's bitters, a critical ingredient in this cocktail. The original Sazerac was made with Cognac, which was very popular in New Orleans at the time. It was served at the Sazerac Coffee House, which was actually a bar. It became very popular and was the signature New Orleans drink. But then, in the 1870s the Phylloxera epidemic swept Europe attacking its grape vines. This dramatically reduced the amount of Cognac available for export and New Orleans began to run out of the crucial spirit for its Sazeracs. To keep them on the menu, they began mixing Rye Whiskey in addition to and eventually in place of Cognac. Throughout the 1900s all the way to prohibition, this recipe became incredibly popular. This creates the debate we have today, is a true Sazerac cognac-based, rye whiskey-based or both? There are now multiple variations and names for a Sazerac that is rye-based or cognac-based. We’ll cover our favourite here.