Ep. 5 The Saz Life - The Sazerac

Welcome to episode 5 of The Art of Drinking with Join Jules and Your Favorite Uncle

What are we drinking?

The official cocktail of New Orleans, the Sazerac

Back in America, the Sazerac house changed hands, perhaps because they could no longer import cognac and make Antoine's famous cordial. No one knows for sure, but one thing is for sure, that place needed to find a replacement for cognac. Since this was America, and they were at the mouth of the Mississippi delta… whiskey flowed into New Orleans quite easily. Cognac was swapped out for Rye Whiskey, a little absinthe was added, and the drink was renamed the Sazerac Cocktail. Sometimes argued as America's first cocktail (those who argue that are wrong, it's the Bittered Sling or Old Fashioned). But it IS the official cocktail of New Orleans and a must-have if you ever travel to the Big Easy.

There you have it, another cocktail born from pharmacology, crafted from necessity, and cemented into cocktail history and now… your home bar

Uncle Brad’s Recipe

What do I need?

• Rye Whiskey

• Absinthe 

• Peychaud’s bitters

• Demerara sugar

• Lemon

• Y-Peeler

• Old Fashioned Glass

• Collins glass

• Mixing glass

• Hawthorn strainer

• Ice

How do I make it?

1. Freeze your glass - best

2. Take demerara sugar and put it in a blender or smoothie blender, food processor - you want to pulverize this into a powder - I like it this way

3. You can also just make demerara simple syrup

4. Grab your mixing glass and add

   1. 3 bar spoons of demerara powdered sugar or ¼ oz of demerara syrup

   2. 6 solid dashes of Peychaud’s

   3. Add 2 oz rye whiskey (use a higher proof like 90 - 100 going over 100 you start to lose the ability to taste)

   4. If you went the powdered sugar route, stir this until dissolves (don’t add ice to the mixing glass yet, the warmth helps dissolve the sugar faster)

5. Drop a few big chunks of ice if you have them, this really helps to slow the dilution while chilling - stir to chill, stir for about 30 seconds, you can go longer if you want and I suggest you play around with it for personal preference. DOOON’T beat it up with the bar spoon, stir in a rotation where the spoon remains on the outside of the glass

6. Pour, using your hawthorn strainer, into your frozen rocks glass

7. Take your y-peeler and take a deep cut from top to bottom of your Lemon. 

   1. Lay it flat and trim off the uneven bits and cut it on the bias if you want to be fancy.

   2. Take that lemon peel and wrap it around the shaft of your bar spoon and twist it so it tightens but do so as you hover it over your drink (oils)

   3. Remove from bar spoon, it should hold it’s shape a little, and lay it flat once more and nick a slit starting in the middle of the peel going the long way towards you, you're making 2 legs. Give it another twist (roll it back up) over the glass and swirl it around your rim.

   4. Fix the lemon peel on the glass so it doesn’t drop into the drink. When you drink, have the lemon peel close to your nose and breathe in …

Enjoy that one around the fire

Join Jules’ Recipe

The Sazerac and a whiskey sour walk into a bar

What do I need?

• Peach infused whiskey

• Peychauds bitters

• Walnut bitters

• Peach puree

• Brown sugar syrup

• Absinthe

• Egg white

• Jigger

• Cocktail shaker

• Y-peeler

How do I make it?

Absinthe rinse first and freeze rocks glass

In a cocktail shaker add:

1. Rye whiskey but lets be real Peach infused whiskey

2. 3-4 dashes Peychauds bitters

3. 2 dashes Walnut bitters

4. 3/4 oz Peach puree

5. ½ oz lemon

6. ¼ oz Brown sugar syrup

7. 1 Egg white

Dry shake without ice

Add Ice and shake again.

Double strain into rocks glass.

Spray absinthe mist on top or orange zest on top.

Get your Sazerac history lesson by listening to the full podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Tip of the day: Citrus twist

• Did you know that you can master the citrus twist by using the bar spoon.

• Using a Y-peeler, get a long piece of citrus flesh.

• Cut the edges to create straight edges.

• Using a bar spoon, twist the citrus peel around the long neck of the spoon.

• Voila - a perfect twist everytime.