d-day rum sazerac

2 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1/4 oz Steen's Cane Syrup
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass pre-rinsed with Legendre Herbsaint Absinthe. Garnish with a lemon twist.

After the Diageo Happy Hour, Andrea and I strolled over to the Green Goddess to see if we could make a reservation for Friday night. When they replied that they do not take reservations, I asked if we could get a table for that night. Within 20 minutes, we had a table inside surrounded by various cocktail luminaries who also knew of the restaurant's wonders. While I do not like posting about drinks without exact proportion recipes, standard Sazerac proportions should yield a similar experience (see 2nd recipe in the link below). Moreover, this drink was too bad-assed not to write about it.
The inception of this Sazerac came about when the bar could not get any Tuthilltown rye and the bartender began thinking about the creation of the Hurricane during World War II when whiskey was in short supply but there was an abundance of rum. What would the bar do in 1943 to recreate the Sazerac? "We invented this to imagine New Orleans captured by German U-boats, leaving us without any rye whiskey to make our hometown Sazeracs."

The Smith & Cross Rum donated a funky aroma that coupled well with the Herbsaint and lemon oil. The rum's bold taste was accented by the Peychaud's bitters and Herbsaint notes; moreover, the spirit's overproof nature increased the effect of these spice notes. Unlike the Sazerac I had last year in New Orleans at a non-Tales of the Cocktail event, this one was a slow sipper instead of an easy drinking heavily-sugared beverage. Not for beginners, but remember -- it simulates the austerity of wartime conditions!