ClassicsWinter

Sazerac

Sazerac Coffee House, New Orleans, around 1850, built on Antoine Peychaud's bitters

The Sazerac is rye whiskey stirred with a little sugar and Creole-style bitters, then strained into a glass coated in absinthe. Lemon oil over the top lifts the spice and anise. It is New Orleans in a glass, and the right pour for Mardi Gras weekend.

  • GlassRocks
  • MethodStirred
  • Ingredients5
Sazerac

Ingredients

Making a batch?
Servings
Lemon peelGarnish
Total volume—

Directions

  1. Stir the rye, simple syrup and both bitters in a mixing glass with ice.
  2. Coat the inside of a chilled rocks glass or coupe with absinthe and pour off the excess.
  3. Strain the drink into the rinsed glass.
  4. Twist a lemon peel over the surface and rim, then drop it in.

ToolsJiggerMixing glassBar spoonJulep strainerRocks glass

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History

Antoine Peychaud, a Creole apothecary in the French Quarter, created his bitters in the early 1800s. Around 1850 the Sazerac Coffee House began serving a cocktail made with Sazerac de Forge et Fils cognac and Peychaud's bitters. When phylloxera wiped out French vineyards later in the century, rye whiskey replaced cognac, and it has been a rye drink ever since.

Making a batch? Scale it for a crowd, add dilution water, and see how many bottles to buy.
Quick sizes
How are you making it? ⓘ Batching includes dilution water. Pre-batched cocktails need added water to replace the melt from stirring or shaking. We use Jeffrey Morgenthaler's standard: 18% for spirit-forward drinks, 25% for shaken.

What you'll need to buy

Based on 750ml bottles (25.4 oz), rounded up.

Bottle math, generally

750ml bottle25.4 oz
2 oz pours per bottle12 cocktails
1.5 oz pours per bottle16 cocktails
1 oz =29.6 ml
This recipe per 750ml of spirit—

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