Vieux Carré

Taste

On the nose it's rye first, then something sweeter and slightly herbal coming up behind it, which is the Bénédictine and the vermouth arriving together. On tasting the rye leads, the cognac softens the landing with dried fruit and a bit of grape, and then the Bénédictine turns up late with honey and about fifteen herbs you couldn't name if you tried. The two bitters do the framing, Peychaud's bringing anise and cherry, Angostura bringing spice. It's rich, it's boozy, and it keeps changing as the ice goes, which is the point of serving it on a rock. Rushing this one is a waste of good cognac.

Origin

The Vieux Carré is named after the French Quarter and it's credited to Walter Bergeron, head bartender at the Hotel Monteleone on Royal Street. The date usually given is 1938. That date is worth a second look. Stanley Clisby Arthur's Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em came out in 1937 and the recipe is already in it, credited to Bergeron. So either the drink is a year older than everyone says or the book isn't the year everyone says, and books are a lot easier to date than cocktails. Nobody seems in any hurry to sort it out. What the drink is doing is not in doubt. Rye for the Americans, cognac for the French, Bénédictine for the Europeans, and Peychaud's bitters out of the Creole apothecary that stood a few doors along the same street. It's a whole city in one glass and it makes no attempt to be subtle about it.