Sazerac on a rock

2 cocktails: 12 cl brandy, 4 cl Marascino, 2 dashes of Peychaud's Bitters, 2 dashes Absinthe, 2 sugar cubes, 2 slices lemon peel, ice for mixing, 2 large ice cubes, one for each glass.

Three in one: a classic cocktail, personal discovery during a cocktail-bar expedition in London and an instant favorite. If prepared right, this drink becomes a symphony of classic cocktail flavors, with a citrus infused opening, the slow movement of smokey brandy, a dance of anise notes around the distilled and matured wine and eventually a finale with heavier sweetness.

The Sazerac is perhaps the most quintessential New Orleans cocktail from the early 19th century and thus probably one of the first cocktails ever to be conceived. After all, the term cocktail (from Coquetier) was itself coined in the Big Easy. Folklore has it that the drinks name is derived from Sazerac-de-Forge et fils, the type of French Cognac brandy from which it was originally made and from the namesake Sazerac Coffee-house where it was first popularized. Supposedly, the original recipe was invented by the very same Antoine Amédée Peychaud, pharmacist, who came up with the line of bitters that still bear his name. However, the story may be more complicated and perhaps even plainly wrong as some have suggested (1,2).

Again, the original was supposedly made using Cognac, but other brandies should do as well. Today you can find this drink served as Rye-Cognac mixture or in either of its pure forms. Personally I find that more affordable brandies by Osborne, for example work just as well. Likewise I am not sure one really has to use absinthe for the anise liquor as suggested in the original recipe. Instead you might experiment with Pernod or perhaps even Ouzo, the similarly anise-flavored but more reasonably priced cousins of absinthe.

However, getting the quantity of anise liquor right is crucial for this drink to work its magic. Too little and the drink can be dull, too much of it and the Pimpinella spice will overwhelm all other flavors. Many recipes thus suggest to merely rinse a mixing glass with absinthe and discard any excess fluid. With the alcohol quickly evaporating this suggests that a thin film of anise oils covering the glass surfaces is sufficient for the desired effect. I have seen bartenders using just a few drops from a pipette to administer the optimal dose to the rim of an ice-filled mixing glass. Irrespective of how you do it, this drink deserves, yes, requires attention to detail or you will likely miss a wonderful drinking experience.

Here is how I like my 'Sazerac on a rock', admittedly more on the sweet side than most purists might allow, but what the heck. Crush a sugar cube in an ice cold glass using a muddler. Add a few drops of anise liquor from a plastic straw and let them descend from the glass' rim to mix with the crushed sugar at the bottom. Place a large ice cube over the sugar in the glas. Combine brandy, bitters and Maraschino with ice in a mixing glass or shaker. Strain onto the ice cube in the cocktail glas and eventually express a lemon peel over the cocktail. I am a firm believer that there is no need to dump the peel in the drink or garnish the glass with it. The citrus flavors are already there.

This preparation is uncharacteristically specific. This is partly born out of experience. I have seen numerous bartenders butchering this wonderful drink by the way they prepare it. Thus, my first Sazerac experience in Londons Disrepute remains the best one I have ever had outside of my lovely home. Also note, that one of the traditionalists big donts is to serve a Sazerac on the rocks. Well, I don't care. The procedure above is somewhat odd in that respect but it makes sure that the mixture of cocktail flavors changes as you consume it. The ice cube keeps much of the anise taste and the sweetness from the crushed sugar confined to the bottom of the glass such that the flavors gradually evolve from more brandy-lemon-ish toward more anise-sugar-ish. Try it: I think it is just awesome.

Zum Wohl, cheers, enjoy.