Endangered Cocktails: Sazerac

What’s the best way to make something you like even better?  Amp it up – make it bigger, faster, stronger, etc.  As red-blooded Americans, these attitudes about consumption are pretty much woven into our DNA, even when it comes to liquor.

If a Sazerac tastes delicious to you, what’s an easy way to make the experience of imbibing them even better?  Why, make them stronger of course.  But how do you make a cocktail that’s already about as boozy as they come even more so?  A high proof spirit is the solution.  Therein lays the fascination with over-proof spirits.  As women who love spirits, we are always delighted to sample from this category of potables.  We enjoyed learning the story behind “Navy Strength” products – these are spirits distilled to a higher proof to ensure that if a bottle was ever spilled onto a pile of gun powder during an evening’s revelry, the ammo would still explode.

High proof spirits are also fun for party tricks, such as flaming shots, Blue Blazers and the particularly showy display of blowing fire – a trick LUPEC pal and DUDEPEC Chicago member Strong Island perfected during his club bartending days.  Trying at home without his supervision is not recommended.  Instead, grab yourself a bottle of high proof rye and get busy mixing up a batch of the aforementioned Sazerac.  Strong Island recommends Rittenhouse 1OO Proof Rye for these purposes.

If mixing at home isn’t your thing, head on over to the Citizen where any of their team of skilled mixologists can mix one up for you, preferably with a perfectly spherical cube of ice.