The Acadian Sazerac

My go-to cocktail is a Sazerac, which is kinda a problem because a lot of bartenders don’t know how to make one at all, much less properly. I once got a Sazerac that was literally pink from how much Peychaud’s Bitters was in it; yep, undrinkable.

Fortunately, it’s easy to make at home if you’ve got the bitters and some absinthe around: it’s essentially an old-fashioned with an absinthe rinse. Recently, though, I’ve been too lazy to achieve even that low bar, and instead of muddling the sugar cube with the bitters, I pour in maple syrup. I think it plays well with the woodiness of the absinthe–plus, the smokiness of the syrup means I don’t have to flame the lemon peel (see the aforementioned laziness problem). If you throw in a Canadian rye, voilà, you’ve got yourself an ancestral, upstream version of the Cajun classic.

2 oz Canadian rye whiskey

roughly .24 oz Absinthe (you’re just rinsing the glass with it)

.5 to .75 oz maple syrup to taste (I like mine less sweet)

strip of lemon peel, crushed to release oils

couple dashes Peychauds to taste (if the cocktail turns pink, you’ve gone too far)

Rinse your glass with absinthe, swirl the whiskey and maple syrup together, top with the Peychaud’s, and plop in the lemon peel. I drink this room temperature, but if you want it cold, put in an ice cube and laissez les bons temps roulez!