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The Sazerac cocktail with Cognac. |
The Grandfather Story:
- Originated around the 1830s.
- Could've been America's first known cocktail.
- Antoine Peychauds was an apothecary from New Orleans who created the now famous Peychaud's bitters, was said to have created the original Sazerac for a cure, not as a cocktail.
- The drink is named after its original base spirit, a cognac named Sazerac de Forge et Fils.
- It was originally a cognac based cocktail, but it seems like rye whisky is the popular base now.
- The reason for the shift to rye whisky was either 1) cognac suddenly became scarce due to a bug problem or 2) American whiskey was readily available and very popular (and also very preferred by its local drinkers) so it was used in everything then.
Fun fact: In 2008, New Orleans proclaimed it to be its official cocktail.