Culinary--Recipes
return to Recipes list

Sazerac Cocktail
from The Blood Notes Of Peter Mallow by Paul Boor, M.D.
(as consumed by Peter and Brenda in THE BLOOD NOTES OF PETER MALLOW)

Ingredients:
Sugar
Rye whiskey (traditional), although all other whiskeys work well;
Absinthe (yes, it's available again; in New Orleans the liqueur Herbsaint is used);
Peychaud's bitters
Angostura bitters (optional)
lemon twist

Procedure:

In bar mixing glass, MUDDLE half tsp of sugar with dash of water;
ADD ICE, then whiskey and dash of bitters; STIR well (30 seconds).

In an old-fashioned, or "lowball" glass, place a dash or two of ABSINTHE; swirl glass to coat inside. (At the Napoleon Bar in New Orleans, the best barmen will toss the glass, spinning, into the air to accomplish this.)

DECANT drink (no ice) into the coated old-fashioned glass.
DROP ON a twist of lemon

For a complete treatise on the sazerac, see David Wondrich's book IMBIBE! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories to Professor Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar Featuring the Original......etc. (highly recommended).