Sazerac Cocktail Recipe
A bracing New Orleans classic: sugar and Peychaud's bitters stirred with cognac or rye and served in an absinthe-rinsed glass.
- Category: The Unforgettables
- Glass: Old fashioned glass
- ABV: 30%
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep time: ~3 min
Ingredients
- Cognac (or rye whiskey)50 ml (1.7 oz)
- Absinthe10 ml (0.3 oz)
- Sugar cube1 piece
- Peychaud's bitters2 dash
How to Make It
- Rinse a chilled old fashioned glass with the absinthe and discard the excess.
- In a mixing glass, muddle the sugar cube with the Peychaud's bitters.
- Add the cognac and ice, then stir until well chilled.
- Strain into the prepared glass without ice and express the lemon peel over the surface.
Garnish
A lemon peel, expressed over the drink.
What it tastes like
The spirit is right out front and it hits hard.
The technique
Stirring. All-spirit drinks are stirred — shaking whips air into them and ruins both the clarity and the texture. Thirty to forty seconds in a mixing glass, the spoon tracing the wall. You are after the same ~20% dilution, just slower and under control.
Glass and ice
A heavy-bottomed, wide old fashioned glass. Wide enough for one large cube, which is the point: a big cube has less surface area, so the drink gets cold without getting watery.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Absinthe
- The anise spirit, 55-70% alcohol. In cocktails it is used as a rinse rather than a measure: most recipes have you coat the glass and pour the rest away, leaving only the aroma.
- Peychaud's bitters
- The New Orleans bitters — anise and rose, and red in colour. It is what a Sazerac tastes of, and swapping in Angostura makes it a different drink entirely.
The Story
Long tied to a 19th-century New Orleans coffee house and to the city's Peychaud's bitters, the Sazerac began with cognac and later shifted toward rye whiskey.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Sazerac mixed?
- It is stirred and served in an old fashioned glass.
- How strong is a Sazerac?
- Roughly 30% ABV as served — a spirit-strength drink — sipped slowly, and it wants a glass of water beside it.
- Can a Sazerac be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Sazerac hard to make?
- Moderate. A shaker or mixing glass plus a strainer covers it.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.