The Sazerac drink recipe is often cited as the formula for America's first cocktail. Originating in New Orleans' French Quarter, this drink quickly grew popular among various European and Colonial visitors and joined a long list of alcoholic originals to come out of the bayou. Today, tourists tend to favor ordering Hurricanes when visiting the area for the infamous Mardi Gras celebrations, but locals choose to sip on Sazeracs year-round.
Sazerac Drink Recipe
Unlike many of America's earliest cocktails, the Sazerac involves a fair number of ingredients and multiple mixing glasses for a standard preparation. With the Sazerac, practice actually does make perfect, and you might want to try making this cocktail a few times for yourself before mixing a large number of pitchers up for friends or family to try.
Ingredients
- 1 sugar cube
- 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- 2 ounces rye whiskey
- ¼ ounce Herbsaint or absinthe
- Ice
- 1 lemon peel for garnish
Instructions
- Line up two chilled rocks glasses.
- In one glass, add the sugar cube, Peychaud's bitters, and Angostura bitters. Muddle the three together.
- Pour the rye whiskey into the sugar and bitters mixture.
- In the second glass, pour the Herbsaint or absinthe. Swish it around the glass to coat the insides and pour out the excess.
- Strain the first glass into the Herbsaint-coated glass and garnish with a lemon peel.
Sazerac Recipe Variations
Given this cocktail's long history, there are hundreds of years' worth of variations made to the original for you to try, but these are just a small representation of the countless number of ways you can truss up the recipe to turn something old into something new.
Rasperrarac Cocktail
Bringing a hint of raspberry flavor to the original Sazerac recipe, this cocktail switches out sugar cubes for raspberry simple syrup.
Ingredients
-
½ tsp raspberry simple syrup
- 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- 2 ounces rye whiskey
- ¼ ounce Herbsaint
- Ice
- 1 lemon peel for garnish
Instructions
- Line up two chilled rocks glasses.
- In a cocktail shaker, combine the simple syrup, Peychaud's bitters, and Angostura bitters. Add ice and shake until chilled.
- Pour the rye whiskey into the mixture and stir using a stirring stick.
- In the second glass, pour the Herbsaint. Swish it around the glass to coat the insides and pour out the excess.
- Strain the mixture into the Herbsaint-coated glass and garnish with a lemon peel.
Backwoods Sazerac Cocktail
For something a bit dirtier than the regular Sazerac, turn to this Backwoods Sazerac recipe which cuts the rye whiskey in half and supplements moonshine in its stead.
Ingredients
- 1 sugar cube
- 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- 1 ounce rye whiskey
- 1 ounce moonshine
- ¼ ounce Herbsaint
- Ice
Instructions
- Line up two chilled rocks glasses.
- In one glass, add the sugar cube, Peychaud's bitters, and Angostura bitters and muddle the three together.
- Pour the rye whiskey and moonshine into the sugar and bitters mixture.
- In the second glass, pour the Herbsaint. Swish it around the glass to coat the insides and pour out the excess.
- Strain the first glass into the Herbsaint-coated glass and serve.
Spicy Sazerac
If you love a kick to your cocktails, this spicy Sazerac recipe is perfect for you. Simply add a few slices of jalapeño to your muddle mixture, and you'll have a mild heat that'll last long after you've finished the drink.
Ingredients
- 1 sugar cube
- 2 slices jalapeño chili
- 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- 2 ounces rye whiskey
- ¼ ounce Herbsaint
- Ice
Instructions
- Line up two chilled rocks glasses.
- In one glass, add the sugar cube, jalapeno pepper slices, Peychaud's bitters, and Angostura bitters and muddle the four together.
- Pour the rye whiskey into the sugar and bitters mixture.
- In the second glass, pour the Herbsaint. Swish it around the glass to coat the insides and pour out the excess.
- Strain the first glass into the Herbsaint-coated glass and serve.
Marshy Sazerac
This marshy Sazerac evokes a woodsy, floral flavor profile with its use of orange bitters, gin, and absinthe.
Ingredients
- 1 sugar cube
- 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- 1 dash orange bitters
- 2 ounces gin
- ¼ ounce absinthe
- Ice
Instructions
- Line up two chilled rocks glasses.
- In one glass, add the sugar cube, Peychaud's bitters, Angostura bitters, and orange bitters and muddle the four together.
- Pour the gin into the sugar and bitters mixture.
- In the second glass, pour the absinthe. Swish it around the glass to coat the insides and pour out the excess.
- Strain the first glass into the absinthe-coated glass and serve.
Sazerac's Unique History
Described as the first true American cocktail, the Sazerac was born in the 19th century in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the Sazerac Coffee House on Royal Street - coffee houses being the camouflaged nomenclature to describe saloons of the era - the Sazerac was first mixed. There is some debate over who actually created this cocktail, but the Sazerac company attributes Thomas H. Handy Sazerac as the one who first mixed the region's famous rye whiskey with Peychaud's bitters and served the drink to local clients.
Settle in With a Sazerac
If there's one thing to take away about the Sazerac drink's history, its that the cocktail is here to stay. Whether you want to enjoy America's first cocktail in its purest form or by playing with flavors and ingredients to modernize it, you're sure to enjoy settling in with a Sazerac in hand.
