2.34 oz mixed with ice, 1.08 oz of it pure alcohol
Melt
Stirred: +15 % of the pre-batch, +0.35 oz of water
Served
2.34 + 0.35 = 2.69 oz in the glass
Strength
1.08 ÷ 2.69 = 40.2 % ABV as served
Ethanol
1.08 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 25 g · about 177 kcal from the alcohol alone
IN THE GLASS
VANILLIN
FROM RYE · from oak barrel aging
Formula
C₈H₈O₃
Mass
152.15 g/mol
IUPAC
4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde
Bourbon's fingerprint, extracted from the charred American oak the law requires for aging. Same molecule as the vanilla bean's signature, so a well-aged bourbon legitimately tastes like vanilla. Chemistry, not metaphor. Cognac, aged rum, tequila reposado all extract vanillin from oak too. Different barrels, same molecule.
The wormwood compound that got absinthe banned for ninety years over a panic that turned out to be mostly wrong. A GABA-A antagonist at high doses, but the doses in actual absinthe, both modern and historical, were always too low to cause the hallucinations the lore promised. Bans lifted between 1988 and 2007 once the chemistry was finally measured properly.
The bitter from gentian root, used across Campari, Aperol, sweet vermouth, Angostura, and most amari. Bitter compounds activate TAS2R taste receptors that evolved to detect plant alkaloids. The same machinery that makes broccoli taste bad to children also makes a Negroni taste like an adult ordered it.
Rye, an absinthe rinse, sugar and Peychaud's bitters. The chemistry has three compounds: vanillin from the rye barrel, thujone from absinthe and gentiopicroside from Peychaud's. It is stirred, with no ice in the final glass, and served close to 40% ABV. New Orleans' signature: powerful and dry.
PROVENANCE
The story goes that Antoine Peychaud, a Creole apothecary in the French Quarter, served his bitters with cognac in a coquetier, French for egg cup. The drink took the name Sazerac from the Sazerac de Forge et Fils cognac poured at the Sazerac Coffee House. Rye is said to have replaced the cognac as phylloxera ravaged French vineyards, with the absinthe rinse added later; the first printed recipe, in 1908, calls for whiskey.
