Vieux Carré

January 2, 2011 (Day 337) — Vieux Carré

My amazingly wonderful wife is in the kitchen putting together a nice southern lunch: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fried okra. My mouth is watering just smelling the smelly smells wafting from the kitchen. That means, since we’re having a nice, southern lunch, we should have a nice, southern cocktail to go right along with it.

This recipe comes from “Southern Cocktails: Dixie Drinks, Party Potions, and Classic Libations” by Denise Gee, Robert M. Peacock

They describe this as a “manly-man’s” kind of drink. That sounds good to me, because after sipping champagne based bubbly drinks for the past several days, I’d like a drink that has some cojones with it! According to Gee and Peacock, this drink is the speciality of the Hotel Monteleone in the “old square” of New Orlean’s French Quarter and be a bit dizzying if you don’t take it slow. I like that.

Vieux Carré

1 oz bourbon

1 oz cognac

1.5 oz sweet vermouth

1 tsp Benedictine

Dash Peychaud’s bitters

Dash Angostura bitters

Pour all ingredients into a rocks glass filled with ice and then stir well. Serve with a heaping dose of southern hospitality.

Very delicious, but they weren’t kidding when they said this was a bit of stump-blower. It’s one of those drinks that’s interesting to note how the different ingredients come together to create something bigger than the sum of their parts. It must be a Nawleans cocktail tradition (the Sazerac is another great example of this phenomenon.) It’s a little bit sweet, but saccarine that you get from the “College Girl Drinks” that you’ll find.

Not for the faint of heart.

Cheers!

— Mark