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With the Sazerac, being bitter is part of the fun
• by Anne Earney - Photo by: Jonathan Swegle
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In that vast landscape of time I refer to as “when I used to wait tables and tend bar,” I once worked at a place that did not stock bitters. Not that there wasn’t a bitter bartender back there (because there always is), but there was no bottle of bitters – that savory, high-proof tincture of herbs, roots and bark. And without it, the bartender couldn’t make the drink my guest had ordered: an Old-Fashioned.
All the way back in the 1800s, every bar carried bitters, and many bartenders made their own. Bartenders were often also apothecaries, or pharmacists, on the side, and they promoted their bitters as tonics for all kinds of ailments. Even today, if you tell a bartender you have an upset stomach, you’re likely to find yourself staring at a glass of club soda and bitters.
Only two pre-Prohibition bitters are still available: Angostura and Peychaud’s. Peychaud’s was created by a New Orleans bartender who, perhaps to ensure the longevity of his product, invented a drink to go with it: the Sazerac. Incidentally, the Sazerac was the first drink in the United States to be called a cocktail.
You’ll find the Sazerac on the drink menu at Erato Wine Bar and Grand Market on South Grand Boulevard. Erato shares its name with a street in New Orleans and the Greek god of love poetry – both of which I was praising after trying the Sazerac.
Tim Foley, who co-owns Erato with Adam Pashea, is from New Orleans, where he learned to make the Sazerac from an 85-year-old bartender who wore tuxedoes to work (and who, I assume, would refuse to work anywhere that didn’t stock bitters).
Foley concocts his Sazerac the traditional way with rye whiskey, anise liqueur and Peychaud’s bitters. This recipe is not the original, but modifications were made by necessity only. The first Sazerac contained cognac, Peychaud’s and absinthe. During the Civil War, when French imports were restricted, rye whiskey was substituted for cognac. After the United States made absinthe illegal, more benign anise liquors, such as Herbsaint (also from New Orleans) and Pernod, were used.
You can use whatever rye whiskey and anise liqueur you happen to have on hand, but, because each bitters has its own recipe, you’ll be making a different drink if you substitute another. Peychaud’s isn’t easy to find in St. Louis, but it can be ordered online at www.sazerac.com.
The Sazerac is made with two rocks glasses. In one, pour a few dashes of anise liqueur, swirl it around and dump the excess out. Add ice and the remaining ingredients to the other glass, stir and strain it into the first glass. The ice is served on the side, and what to do with it is up to you. Foley said some of the New Orleans old-timers dropped the cubes into their drink one at a time, others dumped them all in at once and some didn’t use the ice at all. I found adding a single cube at a time kept my drink at perfect sipping temperature.
In the simple rocks glass, the reddish-brown drink looks sophisticated, with no ice and a lemon twist floating on top. The distinctive rye whiskey is mellowed by hints of anise and herbs, which allow the cocktail to go down easily. But, with its high alcohol content, the Sazerac is not a drink to be gulped. If I may give you a bit of advice gained through experience, drink it slowly. Very slowly.
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