No School Like Old School

With Tales of the Cocktail #totc, a forgone conclusion in terms of magnitude to the bartending calender of 2012, what decorous manner to introduce a forgotten drink, woven in the tapestry of New Orleans extensive cocktail heritage.

The saddest forgotten cocktail is the one unknown where it was created. ~ Ted Haigh

The Vieux Carre Cocktail, pronounced ‘Voo-Ka Ray’, named for the old French term for New Orleans French Quarter - Le Vieux Carre, meaning “The Old Square”, was invented by Walter Bergeron sometime previous to the publication of Stanley Clisby Arthur’s; Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix Them in 1937. Bergeron was Head Bartender at what eleven years later would become the Carousel Bar in the Monteleone Hotel. The Drink’s inclusion here is courtesy of Chuck Taggart, devotee of both classic cocktails and old New Orleans. He tells of walking into the bar at the Monteleone, ordering a Vieux Carre, and receiving a nice refreshing glass of “What is that?” for his trouble.

The Carousel Bar, in the past, has been known to occasionally use dry vermouth in lieu of the sweet vermouth, though this works fine, too

Ingredients:

30 ml Rye Whiskey

30 ml Cognac

30 ml sweet vermouth

1/2 teaspoon of Benedictine

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

Method:

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain onto fresh ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a lemon twist

Adapted from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh

…alchemist says