That being said, as a bartender I have altered this drink ever-so-slightly. As opposed to using a rocks/old fashioned glass; I have become an advocate of using a brandy snifter. This is a very fragrant drink and the way the snifter locks in the bouquet of absinthe, peychaud’s and rye whiskey is the closest my nose has ever come to Heaven.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91912549

It’s been my experience that in colder climates dryer drinks are favored, and in hotter climates, sweet prevails.

My favorite pastis is La Muse Vert, and it works particularly well in this drink as its very dry, like absinthe. I haven’t seen it since moving to Eugene, but bevmo.com has it.

On the subject of cognac… I’ll take a Germain-Robin alambic brandy over any cognac of similar price. (Thats not to say you should never buy Cognac, but any Cognac with a flavor unique enough to warrant space on my liquor shelf deserves to be drunk straight, not mixed.)

Used Old Overholt Rye, and Pernod in place of Herbsaint. (My sad, sad Ohio liquor depot only had Absente and wanted to charge me $39. I passed. I wonder what green Chartreuse would do to this?)

Very delicious, amazingly complex. A good balance between sweet and spicy.

This will definitely become a new evening sipping staple.

If neither are available then most VSOP cognacs will do just fine. I wouldn’t use an VS as I find most very rough around the edges and at the other end an XO’s rich and round flavours would be wasted.

I was once given a Sazerac made using spanish brandy, it was very interesting but not my cup of tea!

I hope this was of help!

Cheers,

Mike

I found that it added even more depth and complexity to the drink. However if one was a little over exuberant with the fees it would definitely over power the drink.

Has anyone tried this before, would be interested to hear there thoughts.

Your Man in Oz.

I would agree that it makes the best rye based Sazerac. I had to re familiarize myself as the bottle I personally own had only one Sazerac left, which I was saving for a special occasion. Knowing that I soon will be able to replenish my stock made it even more enjoyable!

Rittenhouse BIB is great stuff, but not easy to find even in the US. I’d be willing to guess the only rye with any chance of appearing down under would be Wild Turkey.

When I make Sazeracs with cognac, which is how the drink was originally made, pre-phylloxera, I use an orange peel as well. I personally find it to match better with the spirit.

But when mixing with rye, I like to use lemon.

And if you can’t get Sazerac rye, I think Old Overholt is a great substitute. Any other rye suggestions out there?

So I have always stayed to true the original recipe and used a VS or VSOP cognac and have found for my taste and most of my customers’ for that matter a squeeze of orange zest to be a better match!

Just wondered what others thoughts were?

I once had to stop a bartender from whem I had just ordered a Manhattan from putting Worcestershire sauce in it. He was moving very fast, had grabbed the wrong bottle and was about to dash it in with the whiskey and vermouth, and didn’t even notice … sheesh.

Alas, I guess I’ve been one of those folks with the big red PURIST stamped obnoxiously on his forehead to indicate my omission of Angostura. My snarky rejoinder was “That’s not the way Antoine Amédée Peychaud made them!” No, but he wasn’t the one who made the drink truly famous.

My reaction against Angostura that led me to use only Peychaud’s came from having had so many bad Sazeracs in New Orleans in which the bartender does this: grabs both bottles of bitters by the neck with one hand, and shakes them both three or four times into the mixing glass. (How many times have y’all seen that?) That’s way too much Angostura, and I got tired of it.

(That’s not nearly as bad as what they used to do at the Sazerac Bar at the now-former Fairmont — the bartenders there started making a pre-mix by adding bitters to simple syrup, laughably swearing that the proportions would be correct in the final product, and then proceeding to put an inch of that crap into the glass … but that’s a different rant. The bar’s closed anyway, which is sad, but when someone else, I hope, reopens it they’ll make the drinks properly. End of digression.)

The single dash of Angostura really is better, and thanks for the kick in the pants. I love the Thomas Handy rejoinder, and I’m stealing it immediately! That said, we do still commit the sacrilege of dropping the lemon peel into the drink, but we apologize to Stanley Clisby Arthur every time we do it, and now we’ll start apologizing to you too. :-)