• 30mL rye
• 30mL cognac
• 30mL sweet vermouth
• 10mL Benedictine
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Mix and stir over ice until well-chilled. Serve up in a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist or a maraschino cherry (or both).

How do you like your sazerac, with rye or brandy? Can’t decide? Then perhaps the Vieux Carré¹quick pronunciation guide for you: ‘voo car-ray‘ or ‘vyoo car-ray‘ is the way to go is for you. It’s the perfectly well balanced concoction for those who say “Por qué no los dos?” to the previous question. A silky smooth blend reminiscent of a manhattan or a sazerac, that absolutely reminds you of New Orleans.

I love that herbal spiciness up front, and then the drink washes itself over your tongue with the feeling of pure velvet. Savor it for a moment, before letting the kick of that rye hit you on the finish. Who could ask for anything more?

There are several variations on this recipe. The one I prefer is the boozier version up top. But you’ll also see versions that have ~22mL of each of the three top ingredients instead of 30. And you’ll see “1 barspoon of Benedictine” in a lot of recipes as well. I really hate the barspoon as a unit of measure, though. It should be 5mL, but of course, bar spoons vary greatly in shape and size. Thus, it’s a pretty unreliable way to measure anything. Do it the right way; don’t use a bar spoon to measure.

Meaning “old square,” referring to the French Quarter in New Orleans, most histories of this drink date it back to the late 1930s, first mixed at the Hotel Monteleone, world-famous for it’s Carousel Bar, that seems to go faster and faster the more you drink. The credit for this creation goes to the head bartender at the time Walter Bergeron. And to this day, you can still sit at that spinning Carousel Bar, and enjoy the drink in its place of creation, or find a delicious variation on it in any number of pubs the world over.