The Sazerac: How to Master This New Orleans Classic!

What's up guys, Mixology Matt here, Bourbon Street's favorite mixologist because today we are making the Sazerac cocktail. It's a New Orleans classic, it's got a deep history and every bartender should know how to make this one. Let me teach you how. This cocktail was invented all the way back in the 1850s. There was a pharmacist named Antoine Peychaud and he would often treat some of his patients with some spirits, a sugar cube, and his signature Peychaud's bitters. If you are a bartender, I'm sure you've seen these. They have a very anise, licorice, cherry-like flavor. Originally, this drink was made with cognac. However, a lot of people over time switched over to whiskey. In that period of time, there was a huge plague in France. A lot of the grapes got wiped out, so that's why modern interpretations might use rye whiskey or even bourbon. Today, I'm keeping it OG with the cognac. The reason why this cocktail is so special to me is because I actually did my bachelor trip in New Orleans and I had the chance to go to the amazing Sazerac House. It is a modern museum right in the heart of downtown New Orleans. They have free tours all day. You get to pick out your own bitters and buy some really incredible merch. Some of the gear we're using today is from the Sazerac House. Sazerac House, if you're listening, let's talk. I'd love to film this next video in New Orleans one day. Let's do it. We're going to follow the traditional recipe. Instead of using a syrup, we're going to be using a sugar cube. Now, we're going to add in our Peychaud's bitters, three to four big dashes. You want to make sure you soak the sugar cube. The key step here, you're going to need a muddler because we need to muddle the sugar cube. We're going to muddle this sugar cube down. We want to make sure it gets into a really nice paste here. Now, for the star of the show, we have got Monet VSOP Cognac. I really like this brand. They make cognac the traditional way. Here we go. Two ounces of our Monet VSOP. I've got some amazing ice. We're going to stir this down with from the Ice Chef. It is for bartenders by bartenders. We're going to go one more for good luck. We're going to stir this one for quite a while because we have the sugar in there. A little story time. I did my bachelor party in New Orleans. Did we get up to no good? 1,000%. Bourbon Street, you definitely got to go. There's so many amazing bars in New Orleans. Jewel of the South is one of them. There's a Napoleon House, Sazerac House. I highly recommend doing a swamp tour. I held a gator, a baby gator. It was ridiculous. It almost bit my nose off, but hey, Cabin Car, I'll save the day. Let me tell you something, guys. Swamp people are their own breed. Holy ----. This drink is always served up. Ideally, chill your glass. One of the things a lot of people like to use is they'll either do an absinthe wash or even a rinse. I've got the atomizer here with some absinthe, and we're going to actually spray the absinthe on the inside of the glass. Way more effective, and you don't waste any absinthe. Time to strain this out. Look at that silky texture. That is beautiful. To finish this off, I've got a fresh lemon twist. We're just going to express the oils. Don't forget to go around the sides as we do this. Now, let's give it a taste, shall we? I got some lemon. I've got the amazing absinthe smell there. It's smooth. It's got all those amazing anise flavors. Goddamn. Mr. Peixot knew what he was doing with this one. I mean, if he was my doctor, I would do a lot more regular visits. This is definitely one for the books. Here are my pro tips to make the perfect Sazerac every single time. Number one, don't be a goof. Chill your coupes. If you're using stemmed ware, you've got to chill it. This drink is meant to be served up, so that's why we're going to chill our glassware to make sure it stays colder longer throughout the drinking experience. You can use a rocks glass. Same rule applies. Chill the glassware. Number two, as much as the traditional recipe calls for sugar cube, I highly recommend using simple syrup. Even on the video, we just did it for the to be traditional. I do think simple syrup will make sure you get all the sugar. Nothing will be left in your shaker tin. That's another pro tip. Number three, don't skip the absinthe. The rinse is there for a reason. Whether you want to rinse and dump or whether you want to use an atomizer, that aroma and coating the glass is really going to tie the whole thing together. Think of it like a knot on a present. Those are my pro tips to make the perfect Sazerac every single time. Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments below. Now I'm going to show you one of my favorite variations on the Sazerac. We're going to change things up and go in a little bit different direction. To start, we're going to bring in Gold Drops infused maple syrup. It's grade A. This is going to be absolutely perfect in our Black Crown variation. We're going to use one bar spoon of the bourbon flavor. We've got two different bitters we're going to use. They're both from Nickel Nine. We're going to double up on our Nickel Nine here. We've got their aromatic and their cherry cedar bark bitters. Both of these are going to work in tandem to bring this drink to the finish line. I'm going to go about three, four, and five. Now we're going to add in a modifier. We're going to be using Chiquetto Black Walnut Liqueur. This is going to add a nice nuttiness to our cocktail and bring this all together. We're going to add three quarters of an ounce of our Black Walnut Liqueur. This is Chiquetto. It's walnut liqueur, small batch. Highly recommend if you've never tried it before. Now for the star of the show, I've got Crown Royal's Northern Harvest Rye Whiskey. This is an award-winning whiskey. It's probably Crown Royal's best product in my opinion. It is coming in at about 45%, so that's why we're going to add only one and a half ounces here. Now it's time to stir our cocktail. Another pro tip, people say, why do you add so much ice to the mixing glass? It's going to help with the dilution. As you can see, when I start stirring, how high the liquid's coming, that's why, because you want the ice to make contact at all points while you're stirring. For the garnish, I'm going to use an orange twist. You want those orange flavors to really brighten up our cocktail. And we're going to express the oils. Don't forget to rub the rim. And now we're going to give our Black Crown cocktail a sip. Damn, that's good. It's amazing. You get the rye notes. You get the nuttiness. Our bourbon maple syrup brings it together. And of course, Nickel Nine's bitters are the icing on the cake. This is a must try. Damn. You made it to the end of the video. Smash that like button. Drop a comment. Leave a sub. Would be greatly appreciated. As always, I'm Mixology Matt. I don't make drinks. I make smiles. Catch you in the next one.