Sazerac
Sazerac is a cocktail drink which is associated with the city of New Orleans in USA. It is also one of the oldest recipes of a cocktail drink available.
Origin of this drink is linked with the name of Antoine Amadie Peychaud who came to New Orleans from West Indies. He started making a kind of bitters using a family recipe which is quite well known as Peychaud’s Bitters. In 1830s he started serving to his customers a drink which consisted of a mixture French brandy with the bitters made by him with a bit sugar and water added.
this drink became very popular in the city and it was being served in all the city bars. These bars were used to be known as “coffee house”. One gentleman named Sewell Taylor was owner of one such bar which was named “Sazerac Coffehouse”.
In 1853, he declared only he would make the drink using a Cognac brand named Sazerac-du-Forge et fils which was being imported only by him. From that time, the name Sazerac got associated with this drink. Around 1870, the establishment was taken over by one Thomas Handy. He started to use rye whiskey in place of cognac to make the drink. This was because cognac was not readily available and people liked the taste of rye whiskey.
Addition of Peychaud’s Bitters and absinthe to the drink gives it a distinct flavor. But, this drink would not be generally available outside the city of New Orleans.
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