Sazerac Rye is something I’ve had my eyes on for quite some time, but never quite got around to buying for some reason. But happily, after the Parentals went to New Orleans earlier this year, they not only brought back the usual gifts for the kiddos (alligator jerky, a stuffed animal alligator, sugar can swizzle sticks, etc.), they got the Missus a bottle of Pralines & Cream which she has yet to but open and they hooked me up with a bottle of Sazerac Rye, straight from the Sazerac House:
As you can see, it comes with the super cool little tag, indicating it’s direct from the Sazerac House and the bottling label indicates it was bottled in April of this year down in New Orleans.
This made me a little more curious about the origins of the Sazerac itself. I know there’s a cocktail named after it- and sure enough, Wikipedia has the basic origin story:
Around 1850, Sewell T. Taylor sold his New Orleans bar, the Merchants Exchange Coffee House, to become an importer of spirits, and he began to import a brand of cognac named Sazerac-de-Forge-et-Fils. Meanwhile, Aaron Bird assumed proprietorship of the Merchants Exchange and changed the name to Sazerac Coffee House.
Legend has it that Bird began serving the “Sazerac Cocktail,” made with Sazerac cognac imported by Taylor, and allegedly with bitters being made by the local apothecary, Antoine Amedie Peychaud. The Sazerac Coffee House subsequently changed hands several times, until around 1870 Thomas Handy became its proprietor. It was around this time that the primary ingredient changed from cognac to rye whiskey, due to the phylloxera epidemic in Europe that devastated the vineyards of France.
The Sazerac Rye website itself includes some more history and the tasting notes, which as you’ll see below, vary widely from my own. (In general, I try to avoid looking up official company tasting notes as I don’t want to get a case of confirmation bias going in my own impressions of the whiskey.)
I am enjoying this bottle quite a bit and before I drink it all straight, I am going to see about making my very own Sazerac Cocktail. In the meantime, here are my tasting notes:
Color: In the bottle, it’s a beautiful shade of amber that seems almost red when you look at it, but when you get some in a glass and hold it up to a light, it’s almost honey-colored.
Nose: It took me a couple of tastings to really nail this down. In my first tasting, all I got was “caramel and spice” which was probably due to the fact I was on the far side of a cold at the time. You could tell that there was something else there as well, but I couldn’t quite place it at first. Subsequent tasting still didn’t really nail it down, but I settled on ‘apple.’ Whatever it is, it smells crispy and not citrusy to me.
Body: Spice is prominent- because, well, it’s rye, and it hits immediately. It’s well balanced, smooth, and almost buttery in texture it’s not too thick and heavy. I’ve been trying to do the old “chew it like food” tip you always hear about and there’s a note of sweetness that hits at the front here that’s quite nice. (Again, I’m bad at this, but I would also call it ‘crisp’ sweetness that immediately makes my brain go to apples.)
Finish: Spicy, spicy, spicy, but also not unpleasant to drink. I can see why this would be the go-to for rye-based cocktails. While I can’t say I’ve done a comprehensive sampling of all the rye whisky out there in the world, I’d probably slot this in behind Roknar Rye in terms of my favorites. My Grade: *** out of ****