New Orleans' official drink, the Sazerac

Since I grew up and lived in New Orleans for 32 years, I know the rich history behind the Sazerac. I've even been to the original bar to drink one, The Sazerac Coffee house. They are really quite tasty there, unlike my attempt but we'll get to that later.

The Sazerac is considered the first cocktail and was served at The Sazerac Coffee house in New Orleans. The Sazerac's history is given to Antoine Peychaud. He began creating his own bitters in 1830's. He mixed his bitters with cognac and sugar and served them in an egg cup or coquetier.

The Sazerac's name comes from the French Cognac brand Sazerac-de-Forge et fils, which Peychaud enjoyed. Around 1870, whiskey replaced cognac because of a vineyard infestation leading to a shortage in cognac.

In the early 1900's absinthe was added to the drink. In 1912 absinthe was banned because it was said to cause hallucinations. That's when Peychaud's bitters were added to the drink recipe.

In the mid-20th century, The Sazerac House got a new home at the Roosevelt Hotel and is called The Sazerac Bar. I've had one here as well.

In 2008 the legislature of Louisiana officially gives the Sazerac the keys to city, making it the official cocktail of New Orleans. I'm not sure I know of any other cities that have an official cocktail, but if one did it would be The Big Easy. This just tics the box on another thing that makes the Sazerac so interesting.

Now here's the bummer...for me anyway. I tried to make one last night and I "think" it was an epic failure compared to photos I'm seeing online. They're almost halfway full of liquor. It's been a really long time since I’ve had one in New Orleans, and I can't remember if it filled about half of a rocks glass or just about 2 oz barely filling the bottom of a rocks glass. Please help me out here if anyone has any advice or opinions.

Well, here's the recipe that I used. It was called...

The Original Sazerac recipe

Ingredients

2 oz Cognac (I used Maker's Mark)

1 tsp absinthe (I used Pernod)

1/2 oz simple syrup

3 dashes Peychaud's bitters

1 lemon peel for garnish

Method

Add the whiskey, simple syrup, and bitters into your shaker or mixing glass.

Add ice into your shaker or mixing glass.

Stir until well-chilled (approximately 30 seconds).

Separately, rinse a rocks glass with absinthe.*

Strain the drink into your absinthe rinsed rocks glass.

Garnish with a lemon peel.

*Swirl the absinthe in the glass to give the inside of the glass a fine layer of absinthe all over.

I'm not sure I made it correctly because of the amount of liquor in the glass. Oh well, something to work on. Cheers!

The Sazerac, New Orleans' official cocktail