Cocktail Hacker

When you hear about New Orleans (NOLA) any number of images likely pop in to your head. For me I think about NOLA’s rich cocktail history. Nothing sums up this cocktail history better than the Sazerac. Recently named the official cocktail of New Orleans (after a proposal to make it the official drink of Louisiana was defeated) it’s clear I’m not the only one who holds this view.

Created in the early 1800s by Antoine Peychaud, the creator of Peychaud’s bitters, this drink was originally made with Sazerac Brandy. However, when the Phylloxera bug hit France in the 1860’s the drink’s primary spirit changed to the more widely available American Rye Whiskey. A similar story surrounds the other main ingredient Absinthe. When Absinthe (or more specifically thujone) was regulated in the US the flavoring changed to pastis, usually Herbsaint. Now that Absinthe has returned to the US I’d recommend you try that as the flavoring.

The traditional recipe for the Sazerac reads as follows:

“Take two heavy-bottomed 3 1/2-oz. Bar glasses; fill one with cracked ice and allow it to chill while placing a lump of sugar with just enough water to moisten it. Crush the saturated lump of sugar with a bar spoon. Add a few drops of Peychaud’s Bitters, a jigger of rye whisky and several lumps of ice and stir briskly. Empty the first glass of ice, dash in several drops of Herbsaint, twirl the glass rapidly and shake out the absinthe. Enough of it will cling to the glass to impart the desired flavor. Strain into this glass the rye whisky mixture prepared in the other glass. Twist a lemon peel over the glass, but do not put it in the drink.”

This recipe is a touch confusing in my opinion. I much prefer Chris McMillian’s recipe.

“Chris McMillian, late of the Library Bar in the Ritz Carlton New Orleans – among others, has the Sazerac glass into which is then added a sugar cube (would’ve been loaf sugar in the 19th century, so more like a sugar nugget) over which is dashed enough water and Peychaud bitters to create a syrup in the bottom of the glass, which is performed with the aid of a muddler, either of hardwood or hardwood with a porcelain muddling head. Several medium-sized pieces of ice are then added, and about 2 oz. of rye whiskey is poured in. This mixture is then STIRRED, as traditionally all drinks not containing egg or fruit juiced were, with a bar spoon and strained via a strainer, either Hawthorne or cobbler, into a SECOND Sazerac glass rinsed with pastis (generally Herbsaint) standing ready to receive the drink. A small piece of lemon peel is then twisted smartly over the surface of the drink which is then ready to serve.” – Ted Haigh (Doctor Cocktail)

Or, in our usual recipe format:

The Sazerac

[Ingredients]

2 oz Rye Whiskey

Dash of Absinthe

Dash of Peychaud's Bitters

Sugar Cube

1 tsp Water

[Directions]

1) Combine water, sugar, and bitters in a Sazerac glass

2) Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved

3) Add Rye and Ice

4) Stir until drink is chilled

5) Add Absinthe to another chilled glass and swirl to coat

6) Strain cocktail into coated glass

7) Garnish with a lemon twist

The ingredients you’ll need for this cocktail you may not have at this point. You can substitute Bourbon for the Rye, but the flavor will be considerably different. Same holds true for the Absinthe (sub any pastis) and Paychaud’s bitters (sub your favorite bitters). That said, if you want a true Sazerac find the original ingredients. Trust me, its worth it.

Ingredients:

• American Rye Whiskey

• Peychaud's Bitters

• Absinthe

• Sugar Cubes

• Lemon

This cocktail calls for a Sazerac glass, but in a pinch you can use an old fashioned glass or small juice glass.

Tools:

• Sazerac or other small glass

• Measuring Device (Jigger)

• Bar Spoon (Or other stirring stick)

• Strainer

Enjoy a piece of New Orleans history this week as you sip your Sazerac.

This week’s experimentation with the Old Fashioned has been very rewarding. This is a drink I first mixed up only a couple month’s ago and is now, without question, one of my favorites. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post the drink is simplicity at its finest and truly sums up the classic definition of what makes a cocktail: spirits, water, sugar and bitters. Although Embury’s recipe is very good all by itself and certainly requires no changes, there are a couple small tweaks I like to make. Take a peek at yesterday’s post for full details. My final chosen recipe decreases the simple syrup to 2 tsp, which results in a pleasantly sweet cocktail. As for bitters Angosutra alone is very good, but I encourage you to try some others. You may find you prefer some of the other recipes even more.

Cocktail Hacker Old Fashioned:

[Ingredients]

2 oz Whiskey

2 tsp Simple Syrup

1 Dash Angostura Bitters

1 Dash Fee Brother's Old Fashioned Bitters

[Directions]

1) Combine Syrup, Bitters and Whiskey in an Old Fashioned Glass

2) Stir to combine

3) Add two cubes of ice

4) Garnish with a twist of orange

In looking at a number of Old Fashioned recipes this week I noticed something interesting. A lot of cocktail books call for either muddling of fruit or adding soda water, or both. While neither of these is necessarily a bad thing, they are both completely unnecessary. “I think Crosby Gaige summed it up nicely in his 1941 book Cocktail Guide and Ladies™ Companion. “Serious-minded persons omit fruit salad from Old Fashioneds, while the frivolous window-dress the brew with slices of orange, sticks of pineapple, and a couple of turnips.” When you muddle fruit in the drink you end up with a pulpy mess of fruit carcass floating in your drink, not so nice. Try the drink with the orange twist alone. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the amount of fruity notes it adds.

With that, we’ve reached the last of Embury’s Six Basic Cocktails. All of them quite good, although perhaps not always by his recipe. One thing I find interesting is that, of his six, three were sours (The Sidecar, The Daiquiri, and The Jack Rose). This isn’t a bad thing, but it does leave out a number of other cocktail styles such as the collins and the highball. This in mind we’ll be covering some of these cocktails in the weeks to come. Overall Embury was on the right track with his six. My guess is he was attempting to introduce cocktail noobs to some basics that would pique their interest in the cocktail arts. This he most certainly has accomplished.

Hope you all have enjoyed these first few weeks and we’re looking forward to the weeks ahead. Until next enjoy your cocktails.

I whipped up an Embury Old Fashioned on Monday evening. Despite the variables in the recipe the drink turned out to be very good. I chose to go with the following quantities:

Embury's Old Fashioned:

2 oz Eagle Rare Bourbon

1 tsp Simple Syrup

3 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Twist of Lemon

Embury got this one right. Unlike his other recipes I don’t have to change this recipe much to make the cocktail I’m looking for. I like my Old Fashioned slightly sweeter, but not too much. Also, I like the amount of bitters in this recipe, but I really like the flavors that the Fee Brother’s bitters add, so I’m thinking a mix may be in order. Finally, the lemon twist isn’t adding much other than a nice bright color. After watching Robert Hess’ great video on the topic I agree that an orange twist would compliment the sweet flavors in this cocktail better than lemon. Given these considerations, here is the Old Fashioned that I made Tuesday night.

Reese's Old Fashioned (Attempt 1):

2 oz Eagle Rare Bourbon

3 tsp Simple Syrup

1 Dash Angostura Bitters

1 Dash Fee Brother's Bitters

Twist of Orange

Hmmm…still not quite there. This recipe was a little sweeter than I like. Probably decrease the syrup to 2 tsp. Also, as you can see in the picture I’ve started using my Tovolo Perfect Cube ice cube trays. I’m using filtered water to make the ice, but I’m still getting some cloudiness. Look for more on my quest for perfect ice in the coming weeks.

Well we’ve reached the last of Embury’s Six Basic drinks, the Old Fashioned. Per Wikipedia, the Old Fashioned is thought to have been created as a Bourbon Whiskey cocktail at the Pendennis Club in Louisville, KY. Then popularized by distiller Colonel James E. Pepper and later brought to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Pendennis Club Circa 1906

The Old Fashioned is truly an exercise in elegance through simplicity. That’s not to say that it doesn’t need to be crafted with just as much care as a more complex recipe. Robert Hess explained it thus: “When properly made, this cocktail can represent the pinnacle of the bartenders trade. When done improperly, which is more often the case, it can be a disaster of mediocrity.” Robert also has an incredible chronology of the Old Fashioned at his site.

Embury’s Recipe holds true to the first known recipe (see Robert’s site, linked above) but adds a speared Maraschino cherry as a garnish.

“Pour into each glass 1 to 2 teaspoonfuls simple syrup and add 1 to 3 dashes Angostura. Stir with a spoon to blend the bitters with the syrup. Add about 1 oz. whisky and stir again. Add 2 large cubes of ice, cracked but not crushed (see page 100). Fill glass to within about 3/8″ of top with whisky and stir again. Add a twist of lemon and drop peel in the glass. Decorate with a maraschino cherry on a spear. Serve with short stir rod or Old-Fashioned spoon.” – David A. Embury, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks

Or in a more digestible format.

Embury's Old Fashioned:

[Ingredients]

2 oz Whiskey

1-2 tsp Simple Syrup

1-3 Dashes Angostura Bitters

[Directions]

1) Combine Syrup, Bitters and 1/2 of the Whiskey in an Old Fashioned Glass

2) Stir to combine

3) Add two cubes of ice

4) Add remaining whiskey and stir again to until cold

5) Garnish with a twist of lemon and a maraschino cherry

This cocktail is the only one of Embury’s basic drinks that isn’t served in a cocktail (martini) glass. Rather, it’s served in an Old Fashioned glass, named for the drink served within. You can also use a small water/juice glass in a pinch. The key is to not use a glass that’s much larger than the volume of the cocktail, it won’t look quite right.

After making the other cocktails we’ve covered you have all the ingredients you need, but here’s a quick run down.

Ingredients:

• Whiskey (Try a Bourbon)

• Angostura Bitters

• Maraschino Cherries

• Lemon

The tools you’ll need are very simple.

Tools:

• Old Fashioned or Other Small Glass

• Measuring Device (Jigger)

• Bar Spoon (Or other stirring stick)

Enjoy your Old Fashioned!

The Manhattan is like the Martini’s deeper more complex brother. Said to have been created in the 1860’s by a bartender named Black at a bar on Broadway, the drink is a simple combination of Whiskey, Sweet Vermouth and Bitters. This drink is also known by some as a drinking man’s cocktail and the king of cocktails. So, naturally, I’m quite excited to start mixing one up.

However, I had the most trouble of any of the cocktails we’ve covered finding Embury’s actual recipe. And since the reprints aren’t out yet I was forced to go with the recipe listed on Wlkipedia. I do this with some trepidation because, as we’ve seen in past weeks, the recipes listed on Wikipedia are not always what Embury actually listed in his book. But, seeing as I couldn’t find any other references, we’ll use this as our starting point.

Embury's Manhattan (as per Wikipedia):

[Ingredients]

2 1/2 oz American Whiskey

1/2 oz  Italian (sweet) Vermouth

Dash of Angostura Bitters

[Directions]

1) Combine ingredients over ice

2) Stir to combine and chill thoroughly

3) Strain in to a chilled cocktail glass

4) Garnish with a maraschino cherry

It’s interesting to note, and I’ll discuss it more later in the week, that what we know as maraschino cherries are, in fact, nothing like real maraschino cherries as they would have been served when this cocktail originated.

The ingredients we’ll be using this week are pretty standard.

Ingredients:

• Whiskey (I'd recommend a Rye Whiskey)

• Sweet (Italian) Vermouth

• Angostura Bitters

• Maraschino Cherries
  
  

The tools you’ll need are nearly an exact copy from last week, minus the zester.

Tools:

• Cocktail Shaker (Just the bottom half)

• Strainer

• Cocktail (Martini) Glass

• Measuring Device (Jigger)

• Bar Spoon (Or other stirring stick)

Until next time enjoy your cocktails.

[NOTE] I’ve been asked by a couple people if I’m taking the pictures that go along with the intro posts. I have to admit that I’m not. Since we haven’t mixed up the cocktail we’re covering as yet I don’t have pictures to use. So I turn to Stock.Xchng, a great place for free stock photos. The pictures in the others posts are all ours though.