Peychaud's Bitters

[winesonoma]

I finally located a bottle of Peychaud's Bitters. Now what do I make with them?

[beans]

Here's a wee start.

[Chef Shogun]

Well, used the Peychaud's last night in a Canadian Manhattan, and thought it performed well enough!

Tangential bitters question: How much is a 'dash'? I'm thinking one squirt out of the bottle (Alright, 'thinking' and 'what I have read and in general observed'), but I was watching the bitters episode of "The Thirsty Traveler" and the Trinidadians were really slathering it on! At one point making a 'bitters on the rocks'! Is this local custom, or how it usually works? I can't imagine drinking it like that.

[ludja]

Hi winesonoma,

They're listed in Bean's link, but the classic drink with Peychaud's Bitters is the Sazerac. Made friends with these down New Orleans way. Excellent complex cocktail.

Here's the recipe I use:

1 tsp Herbsaint or Pernod*

1 lump sugar

3-4 drops Peychaud's bitters

strip of lemon zest

crushed ice

2 oz Bourbon**

*Herbsaint is from N.Orleans but Pernod is easier to find & v. similar

**Interestingly, in New Orleans a lot of bars we went to use Rye...?

First time you make these you should figure out how much of the anise flavor you like. A way to start on the low side is to put in serving glass, swirl around and then dump excess out.

Place lump of butter in bottom of glass and moisten with bitters. Crush cube; add lemon peel and dry crushed ice. Pour Bourbon over and lightly stir to mix.

Sit out on wrought iron balcony, listien to the blues and slowly sip... (or just picture this in your mind.)

Edited September 21, 2004 by ludja (log)

[winesonoma]

Gimme more as I'm off to find Rye and Bourbon in the morning. I live in the wine country so I drink Wine. I play Petanque so I drink Pastis. I love Martini's so I drink Gin. New adventures await.

[Mayhaw Man]

Excellent Post, for a Thinking Bartender.

Down here, in the home of the Sazerac and Peychaud's, you will often see waiters looking a bit worse for wear sitting at the bar in a quiet, empty dining room- before lunch service- with red tinted drinks before them. This concoction is bitters and tonic. An age old cure all for upset stomachs and aching heads-something waiters seem to have regularly after a long shift and a longer night out.

It works, too! plus it tastes good.

[fatdeko]

You bet! The Sazerac is the first thing that comes to mind when Peychaud's bitters shows up but.......don't stop there.

Heck, don't even start there.

Here are some ways to get to know the wonders and versatility of Peychaud's bitters:

Take yourself a pint glass and fill it with ice and soda water. Give to that 6 or 7 splashes of Peychaud's. (A splash is almost the same as a squirt--shoot the dang thing at your glass, and everytime something comes out, count 1. Then 2 and so on.)

Give a twist to some lemon or some orange and you're on your way.

Now do the same with just plain old water.

Next, you should try some Sprite or 7-Up.

Iced tea is also good, though you may wanna add a little Angostura too.

Pretty soon you'll be adding it to "Fun Drinks" like Gin. Or Whisk(e)y.

Add it to food--a little dash in the local boring chowder is pretty good.

Substitute it for Tabasco, next time your at brunch, on your eggs benedict.

Onion soup. Add it to Onion Soup.

Biscotti! Next time you make Biscotti, add a little dash. Sure it'll make things a little pink, but on the other hand, it makes things a little pink, too.

Make 2 manhattans, 2 rob roys and 2 Rusty Nails. In one, you put Peychaud and in the other you put Angostura. Enjoy all 6 drinks.

Take the rest of the day off.

Myers

[TAPrice]

I just learned today that Peychaud's Bitters are no longer made in New Orleans. For quite some time, they've been produced at the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky.

[thirtyoneknots]

I just learned today that Peychaud's Bitters are no longer made in New Orleans. For quite some time, they've been produced at the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky.

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Herbsaint as well, no?

[TAPrice]

I just learned today that Peychaud's Bitters are no longer made in New Orleans. For quite some time, they've been produced at the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky.

←

Herbsaint as well, no?

←

Yep, Herbsaint as well.

[Mayhaw Man]

I just learned today that Peychaud's Bitters are no longer made in New Orleans. For quite some time, they've been produced at the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky.

←

Yeah, well, you know you know who owns it, and that's about as local as you can get around here. Just handier to make it up there, I guess. Frankly, after I talked to you about it last week, I looked into it and I think it's been made up there, or at least somewhere else, for years.

What we need to do is to invent a cocktail that contains Dr. Tichenor's. It's still made right here in NOLA. I might have to begin working on that, though it's a bit early in the day.

[TAPrice]

I just learned today that Peychaud's Bitters are no longer made in New Orleans. For quite some time, they've been produced at the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky.

←

Yeah, well, you know you know who owns it, and that's about as local as you can get around here. Just handier to make it up there, I guess. Frankly, after I talked to you about it last week, I looked into it and I think it's been made up there, or at least somewhere else, for years.

What we need to do is to invent a cocktail that contains Dr. Tichenor's. It's still made right here in NOLA. I might have to begin working on that, though it's a bit early in the day.

←

Yeah, the brand rep I spoke with today said they ceased all New Orleans production shortly after buying Buffalo Trace. Sounds like it's a massive operation.

[Mayhaw Man]

It is, in fact, the largest privately held distillery in the US, if I am not mistaken. Goldring is now, with Republic and it's various offshoots, the largest liquor, wine and spirits distributing combo in the US. They're all over the place and growing like a weed.

It's also a very cool place, if you happen to like that sort of thing (industrial plants with millions of gallons of delicious refreshments sitting around). Check it out. If you don't like this sort of thing, well, don't look. Go to the shrink, instead

[mbrowley]

In Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table, Sara Roahen writes eloquently of so many aspects of eating and drinking in pre- and postdiluvian New Orleans that, it is, at some places, nearly heartbreaking. She writes in particular and at length of Pableaux Johnson and the coveted invitation to eat Monday red beans at his house around his grandmother's big old table.

Now, I never did get a bowl of red beans at that table, but Pableaux did prepare something for me that I treasured almost as much. One hot, muggy-ass day, he poured me a glass of cold water with several hefty shots of Peychaud's and I immediately smiled as the swirling water took on an expanding spiral of pink. I'd been taking water with bitters for years and, little did Pableaux know, but that one gesture made me feel more at home than he could have realized.

These days when it's hot and I'm in a group where several people are drinking bottled water, everyone knows which is mine: the pink one. Honest, now, what desk is living up to its potential without a bottle of Peychaud's in the drawer?

[Herbsaint]

I just learned today that Peychaud's Bitters are no longer made in New Orleans. For quite some time, they've been produced at the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky.

←

Herbsaint as well, no?

←

Yep, Herbsaint as well.

←

Since around late 1998 or so...