Thanks to Matt and friends, I was recently given a few bottles of Michter's whiskey. I decided to use some of their product in one of my favorite drinks, the Sazerac. Classically made with Cognac along with absinthe, sugar and Peychaud's bitters, the current trend is to cut the Cognac with whiskey.
The Sazerac was invented in New Orleans around 1850, and is a variation of a Cognac or whiskey cocktail. When Sewell T. Taylor sold his New Orleans bar to become a liquor distributor, he began to import a brand of Cognac named Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils. Aaron Bird who bought Sewell's bar gave it the name Sazerac Coffee House and began serving the "Sazerac Cocktail", made with Sazerac Cognac imported by Taylor, along with bitters being made by the local apothecary, Antoine Amedie Peychaud.
On my recent trip to Matteo Ciammella's Atmosphere, I had him recreate the cocktail by mixing the cognac with Michter's American whiskey, also adding Angostura bitters to the recipe. The result was phenomenal - the small batch unblended whiskey gave the drink more elegance and smoothness compared to a typical bourbon or rye. Stop by Atmo to give the drink a try!
Thank you Toney for the photographs and Marika for being our cocktail model for the day.
