The Freezer Sazerac Might Be the Best Holiday Cocktail Recipe | PUNCH

To build a perfect Sazerac demands precision. With so few ingredients, and all potent ones at that, a dash too much or too little of any one of them can throw the whole drink out of balance. For some bartenders, the razor-thin margin for error is reason enough to exempt it from the popular batch-and-freeze technique; when scaled up, the risk of the bitters or absinthe becoming overpowering is high. For others, however, the Sazerac’s exacting nature is precisely what makes the drink a perfect candidate for the freezer treatment. Once the spec is dialed in, there’s no need to worry about consistency from drink to drink—one less thing to fret over at the holiday table.

“Johnny’s is all about efficiency and speed of service,” says Eric Alperin of his Los Angeles bar, where a freezer Sazerac is one of five spirit-forward classics batched ahead of service and stored in the freezer, ready to pour as soon as it’s ordered. His version splits the base between Cognac and rye (the so-called New York–style Sazerac) and includes Peychaud’s bitters in the batch, though he leaves the absinthe out, preferring instead to spritz it into the glass before the drink is served. In New Orleans, the home of the Sazerac, Chris Hannah likewise serves a freezer Sazerac at Jewel of the South. His take includes Herbsaint and bitters in the bottle, along with the unorthodox additions of rainwater Madeira and rancio sec.

At Poison Heart in Philadelphia, where a Freezer Saz complements the menu’s Freezer Martini, owner and general manager Andrea Ulsh prefers to leave the bitters out of the batch, dashing them into the glass à la minute. “We are still giving it that ‘to-order’ treatment,” she explains. At home, leaving the bitters out also opens up the option for guests to bitter their Sazerac to their own tastes. Ulsh’s only word of caution is to make sure that as the level of the Sazerac starts to drop, it gets moved to the refrigerator or an ice bucket so that it remains velvety, rather than slushy. “When there is less liquid in the bottle, the Sazerac can freeze too much because it is diluted, and that isn’t the texture we’re looking for.”

Though Ulsh loves the Sazerac in any form, the freezer iteration offers something the made-to-order version cannot. “[The] freezer form is a guarantee,” she says. “It has perfect balance, dilution, viscosity and consistency.”

The NOLA classic, batched for a crowd.

Drink with us.

Get our freshest features and recipes weekly.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. You can opt out at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Tagged: trends

5 o'clock?