The Vieux Carre is New Orleans in a glass. It represents an amazing fusion of cultural elements that were impact America in the 1930’s. Sweet Vermouth from Italy meet Rye from America with a French influence of cognac and Benedictine. Adding in the bitters from Angostura (the Caribbean) with Peychaud’s bitters (the Caribbean / New Orleans), and you end up with an amazing cocktail that builds to more than the sum of it’s parts.
Vieux Carre
The Vieux Carre is one of those deep, layered, broody sorts of classic cocktails. There’s a subtle sweetness here, but the primary notes are herbal touches over spice with lots of complex caramel and preserved fruit elements. There’s an almost honey like richness that texturally runs through. There are hints of unique elements from both the rye and cognac that keep you coming back for another sip.
Drink Notes & Recommendations
The Vieux Carre has a lot going on, and really revels in the interaction of it’s elements. From that stand point, mixing good quality ingredients will help to build various flavor profiles that can make the Vieux Carre exciting to try using different spirits and modifiers.
- Rye – While this can work either way, we went with the more caramel and spice side of rye, using Rittenhouse. Thanks to the sweetness of the Cognac and the sweet vermouth this could work with a more herbal earthy rye as well like Wild Turkey 101 or George Dickel Rye.
- Cognac – We recommend using H by Hine or Pierre Ferrand 1840 or Ambre for cocktails as they add a significant amount of cognac flavor depth without breaking the bank. If you don’t want to pay for cognac, feel free to substitute a brandy, such as Lustau Brandy de Jerez Solera Reserva .
- Sweet Vermouth – We utilized the more vanilla forward Carpano Antica here (which is our go to), but you can modify some of the flavors present by using a more caramel forward Cocchi or a fruit forward vermouth like Lustau.
- Benedictine – Due to the herbal notes and honeyed sweetness that go into this brandy based liqueur, we don’t recommend swapping this for anything else. Similar to certain other classics, this is both a specific liqueur and a brand recommendation.
- Angostura Bitters – These are the classic bitters for most cocktails, and we recommend you keep a bottle on hand. You can find them at Amazon (although most of the time you should be able to find them locally cheaper)
- Peychaud Bitters – These are the standard for any Sazerac. You can purchase them at most well appointed liquor stores or through Amazon*.
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