To construct an ideal Sazerac calls for precision. With so few elements, and all potent ones at that, a splash an excessive amount of or too little of any certainly one of them can throw the entire drink out of steadiness. For some bartenders, the razor-thin margin for error is cause sufficient to exempt it from the standard batch-and-freeze approach; when scaled up, the danger of the bitters or absinthe turning into overpowering is excessive. For others, nonetheless, the Sazerac’s exacting nature is exactly what makes the drink an ideal candidate for the freezer remedy. As soon as the spec is dialed in, there’s no want to fret about consistency from drink to drink—one much less factor to worry over on the vacation desk.
“Johnny’s is all about effectivity and pace of service,” says Eric Alperin of his Los Angeles bar, the place a freezer Sazerac is certainly one of 5 spirit-forward classics batched forward of service and saved within the freezer, able to pour as quickly because it’s ordered. His model splits the bottom between Cognac and rye (the so-called New York–type Sazerac) and consists of Peychaud’s bitters within the batch, although he leaves the absinthe out, preferring as a substitute to spritz it into the glass earlier than the drink is served. In New Orleans, the house of the Sazerac, Chris Hannah likewise serves a freezer Sazerac at Jewel of the South. His take consists of Herbsaint and bitters within the bottle, together with the unorthodox additions of rainwater Madeira and rancio sec.
At Poison Coronary heart in Philadelphia, the place a Freezer Saz enhances the menu’s Freezer Martini, proprietor and common supervisor Andrea Ulsh prefers to depart the bitters out of the batch, dashing them into the glass à la minute. “We’re nonetheless giving it that ‘to-order’ remedy,” she explains. At residence, leaving the bitters out additionally opens up the choice for visitors to bitter their Sazerac to their very own tastes. Ulsh’s solely phrase of warning is to ensure that as the extent of the Sazerac begins to drop, it will get moved to the fridge or an ice bucket in order that it stays velvety, somewhat than slushy. “When there’s much less liquid within the bottle, the Sazerac can freeze too a lot as a result of it’s diluted, and that isn’t the feel we’re searching for.”
Although Ulsh loves the Sazerac in any type, the freezer iteration affords one thing the made-to-order model can’t. “[The] freezer type is a assure,” she says. “It has excellent steadiness, dilution, viscosity and consistency.”