Recipe: Vieux Carré

The Vieux Carré has been a perpetual favorite of ours, and most any cocktail lover visiting New Orleans, since Walter Bergeron invented the drink at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone back in 1930s. It’s named for the French term for what we now call the French Quarter (literally “Old Square”), and while you can’t always be spinning slowly around the Carousel, it is an easy enough cocktail to make at home, to remind you of the Quarter, when away.

The Vieux Carré

1 oz. rye whiskey (we use Sazerac)
1 oz. cognac (we use Pierre Ferrand)
1 oz. sweet vermouth (we use Martini and Rossi, but Dolin would also work)
1 tsp. Bénédictine
2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir all ingredients with ice, until cold.
Strain over fresh ice in a double old fashioned glass.
Garnish with a lemon peel expressed over the drink and dropped in as a twist

Some prefer this cocktail served up, in a coupe or cocktail glass, and if that is your preference, enjoy. We prefer it on the rocks. The ice can be a life saver in New Orleans during the summer.

This cocktail, along with some other New Orleans classics, can be found in Stanley Arthur’s 1937 book Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix Them. He does credit Walter Bergeron with inventing it, but so much for everyone else under the sun quoting that le Vieux Carré was invented in 1938.