The Sazerac (Original)
Polls! July 23rd, 2008
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
I know I’ve missed many many places, but I didn’t want the poll to get too long. Let us know where you’ve had your best Original Sazerac1 in New Orleans, whether at TotC or any other time.
- yes, bless you Chuck, I’m being an antagonistic bastard to those idiots… [↩]
d.b.a. on Frenchman Street in 2004. Well, it was my birthday and the bartender was pretty cute. In any case, when she suggested making the Sazerac with Wild Turkey 101, she had me wrapped around her little finger.
Neat! Thanks for the tip, Erik. And good job on the ‘Making Your Own Cocktail Ingredients’ panel. Your orgeat recipe looks great.
In other news, what the hell has happened to my chow.com sidebar?!
Last year Jamie B. and I went to Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop and two really bad Sazerac’s. This year, when I went, it was a much different story. The bartender had some talent and made it the way it was suppose and it tasted very good. That was a nice change.
We went with Robert Simonson on Saturday night to Lafitte’s and he was brave enough to order one. It wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected, but wasn’t the best I had in NO.
A totally skeezy dive of a place though. Only dimly lit by the glow of a Jaegermeister shot machine and candles. Excellent.
The best Sazerac I had was at the Carousel Bar on Monday night. The bartender working apparently used to work for Sazerac Whiskey and had made one or two thousand of them before. It was the best balanced of the sazeracs that I had the entire week, by far. It was also my first one of the week.
Alright, ‘fess up, who listed “Pat O’Brien’s” as the best Sazerac? I’ll stop this blog right here in the middle of a post and beat your hide black-and-blue, hon.
But, seriously, did anyone try one there? Yeeeesh.
Firstly, almost all the Sazeracs in New Orleans suck. They use WAAAAAAAYYYYYYY too much sugar.
Secondly, Murray Stenson bought me one at Luke on Sunday night and it almost made me cry. Easy on the sugar by local standards, just Peychaud’s (save the Angostura please), lots of love and incredible company.
I alllllllllmost included Luke’s on the list as a good many people ended up there. But by my count there were about 20 Ojen Frappes ordered to every Sazerac. It looks like I missed out.
And I agree completely, the Sazeracs are, by and large, too damned sweet and I prefer them without the Angostura but that bothers me less. Good feedback. Luke’s was good, but I can’t recommend the Duck/Rabbit Pate’.
Well, obviously Robert and I didn’t make it to the French 75, as it seems that was the place to get this drink, but we tried Sazerac’s EVERYWHERE else. There was no middle ground. More times than not, they were sugary sweet. If they weren’t, the drink wound up at the opposite end of the spectrum with no sugar at all. Overall, we were pretty disappointed in the Sazeracs throughout the weekend. Oh well, we’ll have to try the French 75 bar next year.
On Luke. We had one there, and it seemed like the chick making it, got out the necessary ingredients to make the drink, closed her eyes, and guessed her way through the rest. It was pretty bad…
Wow, that’s quite the horror of a Sazerac you describe, Morgan. I can say the Ojen Frappes were excellent.
I wasn’t impressed with the one at The Swizzle Stick at all, way too sweet. Also, I’m curious on everyone’s take on Pernod vs. Herbsaint. It looked like the vast majority, if not all, that we had were made with Pernod and after bringing my Herbsaint home and mixing one up Joana and I found that it gave the drink a drier and bit more ‘earthy’ character (Joana’s exact words were, “…dirt…it’s dirt.”).
So, I know that Eric Asimov attests to using Pernod as an improvement and Chuck T is a died-in-the-wool Herbsaint guy. So, again, availability aside, is Pernod an improvement over Herbsaint?
After three years of sampling New Orleans Sazeracs, the two best I’ve had were at Mr. B’s Bistro (this year) and Bayona (last year), though I’ve had decent ones at the Carousel. Also had great ones at Steve Olsen’s International House Hotel party this year, but I don’t know if that counts since they were made by top cocktailians, and not the usual staff.
Everything is better at Pat O’Brien’s.
I voted for the Swizzle Stick this time because Lu made our drinks, and she makes kick-ass Sazeracs. If you get one of the other bartenders that we don’t know, it could be up in the air.
Same thing with French 75; when Chris makes them they’re a work of art, but it’s entirely dependent on who’s behind the stick. (I miss Bobby Oakes, who was a great Ramos Fizz maker too.)
As much as I love drinking, eating and hanging out at Napoleon House, their Sazeracs are consistently lousy. I’ve watched different bartenders make them, and it looks like they use about 2 parts Overholt and 1 part simple syrup. Then they invariably grab bottles of both Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters by the neck with one hand and dash five or so dashes of each into the mixing glass, and then rinse the glass with Pernod instead of Herbsaint. (In New Orleans. I ask you.) Last time we were there I sent it back and said to the bartender, “You know, I’m sorry, but this is really way too sweet for me.” He reached for the bottle of Overholt, poured about another ounce of warm whiskey into my drink, then said, “There. It’s not so sweet anymore.”
Sigh.
I’ve done side-by-side taste tests of Herbsaint vs. Pernod, and for me there’s no question. For me Herbsaint is drier, more aromatic, more herbal, just a better, rounder flavor. Pernod is … well, wimpy, and too sweet. On top if that, if you get it locally, Herbsaint’s about 1/3 the price of Pernod. It’s so good I’ve enjoyed just drinking it alone as a pastis, with water.
Hmm, dirt … I can see that. I probably acquired a taste for dirt in the schoolyard as the bullies were grinding my face into it. “Fresh and bright in the nose, with a very earthy entry onto the palate. Midpalate brings notes of grass, minerals and ladybug, and the finish is long and gritty.”
Oh, and I thought Pernod’s new absinthe was lousy. We had an absinthe tasting with friends a few months ago, and Pernod Absinthe came in dead last.
Oh, and since I’m mentioning the Swizzle, props to Mike, Michael and Talia.
Robert – For years Bayona made Wesly’s favorite Sazerac in town, then last time we went they were … different. Not bad at all, but not quite as good as before. New bartender, I guess.
thanks for all the recommendations cuz i only had one sazerac and it was at the hotel and i did not enjoy it very much.now i know i need to go see chris at french 75 and try two drinks the brandy alexander and sazerac.
Yeah, Chris does a great job at Arnaud’s. He was in a deeply pissy mood Friday night when we were there and he had the class on Saturday, at the Tiki Block Party, to recognize us, acknowledge his craptastic mood the night before, and apologize. Very classy.
And, of the four drinks I had at the Tiki Block Party, his (Cajun Typhoon) was the best all-around for my money.
Chuck: Sorry to hear about Bayona. I went there last year based on your recommendation and was impressed, even if it was a tad too sweet. (They all were last year.) Sorry to hear the quality’s gone down. Funny: up here in NYC, I get fairly consistently good Sazerac—that is, at the few serious places that know how to make them. They take them very seriously when I order them. I guess don’t get so many requests. I guess the point is they don’t take them for granted and relish constructing such a classic cocktail.
The best Sazerac I’ve had in NOLA was at the Pelican Club. The second best was at the Secret Society here in Portland – http://www.secretsociety.net . They rinse the glass with your choice of Lucid or Trillium absinthe.
I always suggest Michael Glassberg at the Swizzle Stick and Chris Hannah at Arnaud’s French 75 bar. They both use Angostura which I like in them and I agree most people use too much sugar and we are trying to correct that now!!
My favorite Sazerac in NOLA is typically at Commander’s Palace. Not because it’s necessarily the best Sazerac in the city (it may not be; I’ve never done a study), but because it’s served to me in what may be my very favorite restaurant in the world. And it goes great with their turtle soup, which is just awesome.