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The Sazerac Company, to celebrate the opening of the museum, created a new Cognac with the Sazerac family, who still live on the estate where the grapes for the original brandy were grown. Most bartenders, however, handle with less drama the business of washing the glass with absinthe and avoid spraying walls and customers with high-proof booze. Find a New Orleans bartender with a flair for theater, and when you order a Sazerac cocktail they will dash absinthe into a glass, toss it spinning into the air and shout the name of the drink. Join us for one-of-a-kind events celebrating the drinks, customs and traditions that make New Orleans special. No outside food and beverages are allowed in The Sazerac House, but you’ll enjoy samples on your tour and can reserve a private tasting.
The Birth of the Sazerac Cocktail
Since its origins in the Cognac region of western France, the Sazerac family name has elicited recognition and respect in the spirits industry. The namesake brand, Sazerac de Forge et Fils was the original spirit used in the Sazerac Cocktail and by the mid-19th century became a natural choice for the name of the original Sazerac coffee house. Bourbon Street has certainly established its place as the party epicenter of any trip to the Big Easy, but whiskey lovers know that there’s a better story than the Hurricane behind cocktails in New Orleans. Just off Bourbon Street, a tiny new French Quarter bar is stepping into some very big shoes of New Orleans cocktail history. The new attraction gives the Sazerac Co. a way to tell its story and show off its many brands, which run from the ubiquitous (Southern Comfort) to the mythically rare (Pappy Van Winkle).
A deep history of global connections
From grain to glass, learn how our flagship Sazerac Rye gets made. Go behind-the-scenes to see the production process and watch our experienced whiskey makers in action. Then, purchase your own bottle to take home along with bar tools, cocktail glasses and Sazerac gear in our shop. On the ground floor, visible through windows from Canal Street, the Sazerac House operates its own micro-distillery for Sazerac Rye whiskey. The facility replicates everything that happens at the company’s main Kentucky distillery, from the arrival of grain in huge canvas sacks to a bottling line for the finished product. Visitors even have a view into a working lab, where spirits in progress are analyzed, just like at the main production facilities.
Sazerac de Forge Cognac
Enjoy exclusive tastings hosted by expert bartenders and unique experiences that celebrate the city, drinks and customs that we love. Sazerac Rye Whiskey symbolizes the tradition and history of New Orleans. Rye Whiskey dates back to the 1800s, around the time when saloons, veiled as Coffee Houses, began lining the streets of New Orleans. It was at the Sazerac Coffee House on Royal Street where local patrons were served toddies made with Rye Whiskey and Peychaud’s Bitters. The libation became known as the “Sazerac” and America’s first branded cocktail was born.
Other floors of Sazerac House are devoted to event spaces and corporate offices for the Sazerac Co. Soon, the doors will open to a new attraction inspired by the cocktail and to the drinking culture of its hometown. In the past few decades, its growth began to snowball, paralleling the dramatic growth of the bourbon business. It became the country’s largest spirits producer and one of the largest such companies in the world.
Sazerac House — Museum Review Condé Nast Traveler - Condé Nast Traveler
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I grew up in Oklahoma, but I've spent the last 15 years covering food in New Orleans, one of America's great dining cities. You can order one from almost any reputable cocktail bartender in American cities large and small. As Prohibition approached, an ad appeared in the New Orleans States-Item that in any other city would have signaled the death of the Sazerac cocktail. Ads and articles from 19th-century New Orleans newspapers mention the Sazerac House, but never do they tout its cocktails.
Photos: The Sazerac House in downtown New Orleans is a sensory tour into cocktail culture
Our history of producing spirits dates back over 370 years to Cognac, France. Empty the whiskey/bitters/sugar mixture from the second glassinto the first glass and garnish with lemon peel. And while these bottles may be next-to-impossible to find, the Sazerac House is making it easier get your hands on a bottle of the standard 90 proof Sazerac. That company produces an immense range of spirits and has operations around the world. Sazerac House is intended to be the company’s “homeplace,” a public showcase for what it does and the way New Orleans has informed its earliest roots. In one exhibit, a huge section of a white oak tree was hauled into the museum, a feat that required extra structural support in the floor beneath it, all so the museum could emphasize the importance of barrel aging.
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The interactive museum produces bitters, blends rum and distills rye whiskey, letting visitors see how cocktail ingredients are created. Your experience at The Sazerac House will be one part history, two parts interactive exhibits, a mixture of spirited events and a dash of rich New Orleans culture. Plan a visit to experience distinctive tastes and traditions that can only be found in the Big Easy. Try the famous Sazerac cocktail which was invented nearby by the industrious innovators of the 1800s. The one and only New Orleans original, Sazerac Rye symbolizes the culture and history of the Big Easy.
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If your group is 10 or more people, please contact our event team. If your group is less than 10 people, book your tickets at tickets.sazerachouse.com. Reservations must be made five days in advance of your tour or tasting date for groups of 10 or more.
Guests under the age of 21 must be accompanied by an adult who is 21 years or older. As a tour experience, a visit to The Sazerac House should take approximately 90 minutes. Private tastings have a capacity of 20 people (limited to 8 people during COVID-19 restrictions). Since space is limited for our daily tours and even more limited for our tastings, we recommend that you book your tickets in advance. You can see that passion in our award-winning distilleries, in our people, and in every pour. If you’re a recent graduate, or an experienced professional, there’s an exciting career opportunity at Sazerac Company waiting for you to pursue.
“We can show every step — here’s the wood that will later become the staves, that will later become the barrels that are so important in creating the spirits,” said Bock. Look closely at the intricately patterned railings on the central staircase — S shapes signify Sazerac, outlines of anise blossoms represent an ingredient in bitters. Upstairs, an exhibit on bitters doubles as a boutique production shop for Peychaud’s Bitters. Pull open draws and you get a whiff of the various herbs, barks and roots used in bitters.
It became a wholesale grocery company to survive Prohibition, and got back to the booze business after Repeal, marketing its Sazerac cocktail. The various ingredients used to make bitters and distill spirits on display at The Sazerac House at 101 Magazine Street in downtown New Orleans on Tuesday, September 10, 2019. It was not until 1899 that Wondrich can find a published reference to a “Sazerac cocktail,” around the time that bartenders got creative with drinks and started giving their recipes names. It was also the era when New Orleans became a tourist destination. After that, the Sazerac cocktail was mentioned often, generally along with the Ramos gin fizz and the absinthe frappe.
While the company’s brands are everywhere at Sazerac House, the museum focuses less on the “who” and more on the “how” and “why” of the larger cocktail culture around them. Tools of the trade explaining the history of distilling and serving spirits on display at The Sazerac House at 101 Magazine Street in downtown New Orleans on Tuesday, September 10, 2019. The Sazerac House’s three floors of artifacts and high-tech exhibits detail the history of drinking in New Orleans from the 19th century to the present. The Cognac was made to taste like the brandies distilled before Phylloxera destroyed the vines and the family got out of the liquor business. It uses grapes that are rarely included in Cognacs today, like Folle Blanche and Colombard. Today, some bartenders make their Sazeracs with Cognac brandy, in a nod to the “official” history.
Genuine, fun-loving people across the globe have been enjoying Sazerac spirits together with friends for centuries. Join the party and discover the universal appeal of a finely-poured drink, from Paris to New Orleans. Sazerac is also a brand of rye whiskey produced by the Sazerac Company.
