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
I came across your blog while surfing for drink recipes. Wow, this one is kick-ass and unique. I’ll be back to check out others.
Cheers,
NSV
Thanks man. Kick ass blog you’ve got going on, too. We’ve got a pretty big following in Chi-town, always happy to have some more.