Photo via Infrogmation/Creative Commons

As Tales of the Cocktail begins, booze buffs are gearing up for Spirited Dinners, demos and seminars like "Candy is Dandy but Liquor is Quicker." But the annual event wouldn’t be complete without the legend of at least one libation, and there's no better place to turn than the official cocktail of the Crescent City. NoDef caught up with local bar owner and mixologist Neal Bodenheimer for the saga of the sazerac.

Many date the drink's existence to pre-Civil War New Orleans, but not much of the recipe has changed in the last two hundred years. Originally, the cocktail was prepared using cognac rather than rye whiskey, but the Phylloxera invasion of the 1870’s destroyed much of the cognac vines in Europe. The basic composition of the drink has persisted through the centuries—Peychaud Bitters, sugar, absinthe or Herbsaint, and a lemon twist, all in an old-fashioned glass.  

According to Bodenheimer, the formula for the perfect Sazerac requires a solid understanding of flavors.

“It’s the ratio of bitters to sugar, you have to make sure it’s in accordance with the right ounceage of rye whiskey with the right proof, and controlling the dilution based on that proof,” Bodenheimer said.  

The Sazerac is the quintessential New Orleans drink, Bodenheimer says, because, “In New Orleans, we’re preservationists. Because we hang on to our history, we were able to preserve the Sazerac, and that’s why it’s important to us, it connects us to our past.”

Every year, The New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society honors bars and restaurants that uphold the tradition of the time-honored beverage with a “Seal of the Sazerac.” Bodenheimer’s bar Cure (4905 Freret St.) was one of the recipients in 2010, and his new bar Bellocq (936 St. Charles Ave.) is one of 2012’s honorees.

“It’s the same formula for the Sazerac that we use at Cure,” Bodenheimer said of what he does at Bellocq.

In terms of what the “Seal of the Sazerac,” means to the now two-time recipient, Bodenheimer said it was a confirmation. “

We do a good job, that’s what it means to use. The detail and the care that we take in making our drinks matters to people we respect whose knowledge of cocktails we respect. We do everything we can to make our guests happy.”

Bodenheimer said he takes pride in the fact that he and co owner Kirk Estopinal are  capturing the spirit of the classic cocktail.

“Although we are a modern bar, we still try to do modern interpretations of 19th century cocktails. We really are making drinks from an era when the Sazerac was created. It’s a really important cocktail for us to get right in that style. You can’t start to approach an Old Fashioned or Juleps without mastering the simplicity of a Sazerac.”

Both Belloqc and Cure use the same formula for their Sazeracs, and Boedenheimer said they prefer Herbsaint Original over Absinthe.

“It’s higher proof and it really is an absinthe minus the wormwood," he said. "It hits the good notes of Herbsaint, but it doesn’t add the sweetness.”

NoDef tried to get more information about the type of sugar they use, but Boedenheimer wouldn’t spill. “That’s a trade secret,” he said. “We use a rich sugar. It’s a really important part.”

This year’s Seal of the Sazerac honorees are Bellocq, Iris, Columns Hotel, Superior Seafood, and one outsider--Hawksworth, the first establishment outside of New Orleans located all the way in Vancouver in the Rosewood Hotel Georgia.