How to Make a Sazerac Cocktail

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Hi, this is Eben Freeman at Tailor Restaurant

on Broome Street in New York City.

The Sazerac, a cocktail with a long history,

associated with Louisiana,

about to become the state cocktail of Louisiana.

It shares a lot of the history and the French heritage

that there is in that city.

The drink derives it's name from actually the name

of a cognac that was used to make this cocktail originally,

which was named Sazerac.

So we start with our chilled mixing glass.

We're gonna use one brown sugar cube,

which we're gonna add just a dash of soda water to,

and then muddled, crush the cube.

Then you stir that just a little bit

to melt that sugar a bit.

And then comes the Peychaud Bitters,

and really with this, I don't think you should be shy.

Good four or five dashes, depending on how much

is coming out of your particular bottle.

Then you're gonna add the cognac.

With this I like to make two and a half ounces.

Now, before you add the ice,

it's important to prep your glass.

I'm just gonna put what's called

an absinthe rinse on the glass.

This is a little stemless glass

that I think this drink looks really nice in.

I'm just gonna add a little bit of the absinthe.

Just roll the glass in your hands to coat all the sides

as close to the top as you can with the absinthe,

and then simply dump out the excess absinthe.

Really just want it on the nose, not so much on the palette.

Then we're gonna add our ice, and stir.

Use our julep strainer.

Strain that into our chilled, pre rinsed glass.

Finally, we're gonna add some lemon zest.

And for this, I like to do a more decorative approach,

which is using a channel knife.

A little bit of technique.

If you practice with a channel knife on a lemon

you'll see that it's easier to do it this way.

However, to get the oils into the glass

you actually wanna practice being able to do it

this way, so it points down towards the glass

and really showers all of that oil into the glass.

And you just do a full turn of the lemon like this,

and then take your piece drop it in.

It's just a nice, decorative touch,

and gets a lot of that lemon oil in.

And that is a very old, revered drink, the Sazerac.

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