Absinthe vs Herbsaint for a Sazerac: The Rinse Explained

The Sazerac's rinse is the smallest measure in the drink and the one that gets argued about most. The IBA, PUNCH and Jeffrey Morgenthaler say absinthe. The Sazerac House, New Orleans & Company and most bars in the city say Herbsaint. Chris McMillian and Arnaud's say "Herbsaint or Pernod." All of them are describing the same gesture — a quarter ounce or less, swirled around a chilled glass and poured out — and the choice between the bottles comes down to history, sweetness and the proof of your rye.

This guide covers what absinthe and Herbsaint are, why Herbsaint exists at all, how the two behave in the glass, how much to use and what else works. The hands-on method is in how to rinse a glass with absinthe; the rest of the ingredient set is in the Sazerac ingredients guide.

The Short Version

• Absinthe is the historical rinse: Boothby's 1908 recipe already calls for a glass "rinsed out with a dash of absinthe." It was banned in the US in 1912 and legal again from 2007.
• Herbsaint is the New Orleans substitute that outlived the ban — an anise liqueur made in the city since 1934, with no wormwood, owned by the Sazerac Company since 1949. Most New Orleans bars still use it.
• Taste: Herbsaint is sweeter and lower in proof than absinthe (Chris Hannah, formerly of Arnaud's French 75 Bar). Match your rye accordingly.
• How much: about 1/4 oz (Sazerac House), 1 barspoon (PUNCH), 4 dashes (Difford's) or 5 ml (Oxford Companion) — coat the glass, discard the rest.
• Pernod is the named stand-in in McMillian's, Arnaud's and Tom Macy's recipes.

What Absinthe Is, and Why It Left

Absinthe is a high-proof spirit flavored with wormwood, anise and fennel. In the Sazerac it was never an ingredient so much as a perfume: the earliest authoritative printed recipe — William Boothby's, in 1908 — strains the drink into a stem glass "rinsed out with a dash of absinthe," and David Wondrich has found the rinse-and-discard described as the Sazerac House's distinctive touch in a Chicago newspaper of 1901. The Oxford Companion treats that rinse as the one thing separating the Sazerac from Jerry Thomas's 1876 Improved Whiskey Cocktail, where the absinthe was dashed into the drink.

The United States banned absinthe in 1912. New Orleans kept making the drink anyway, which meant finding something else to rinse the glass with. The Oxford Companion names two substitutes from the post-Prohibition years: Herbsaint and Green Opal. Only one of them is still on the back bar.

What Herbsaint Is

Herbsaint was created in New Orleans in 1934 by J. Marion Legendre and Reginald Parker, who had learned absinthe-making in France during the First World War. It went on sale as "Legendre Absinthe" until federal regulators objected to the word; the new name was, by New Orleans Magazine's account, an anagram of "absinthe" plus an R (Wikipedia offers "herbe sainte" instead). It has never contained wormwood. The Sazerac Company bought J.M. Legendre & Co. in June 1949, and has owned the brand — alongside Peychaud's and Sazerac Rye — ever since.

The proof drifted over the decades, from 120 to 100 to 90. For the brand's 75th anniversary Sazerac reissued the 1934 recipe at 100 proof as Herbsaint Original — the Times-Picayune reported it in December 2009; PUNCH's account of Cure's Sazerac dates the release to 2010. That reissue mattered: Cure had opened with absinthe in its Sazerac and switched to Herbsaint when the 100-proof version appeared. "Herbsaint was the last piece," as PUNCH put it.

Absinthe vs Herbsaint in the Glass

Chris Hannah's rule, given to Whisky Advocate (he was formerly head bartender at Arnaud's French 75), is the most useful sentence on the subject: because Herbsaint is sweeter and lower in proof than absinthe, it wants a spicier, higher-proof rye to push back; absinthe already brings the dryness and proof, so a softer 40–45% rye balances it. Our canonical recipe follows that logic, preferring a 100-proof or bottled-in-bond rye when the rinse is Herbsaint. Rittenhouse Bottled-in-Bond is 100 proof; the Bottle Library sorts the rest by proof.

How Much to Use

Every reputable source coats the glass and throws the excess away. The measures differ only in the pouring:

• 1/4 oz — Sazerac House, New Orleans & Company, Tom Macy and the Ticonderoga Club (PUNCH's 2024 winner).
• 1 barspoon — PUNCH house recipe. 10 ml — IBA. 5 ml — Oxford Companion.
• Dashes — 4 (Difford's), 3 to 4 (Ryan Maybee), 2 (Arnaud's), 1 (Chris McMillian).
• 4 spritzes from an atomizer — Cure, whose house spec mists Herbsaint onto the inside of a chilled double old-fashioned glass; St. John Frizell used an atomizer in PUNCH's 2018 tasting too.

The quantity matters less than the discard. What stays in the glass after a proper rinse is a film, and a film is enough; the Sazerac is a rye drink with anise on the nose, not an anise drink. The step-by-step, including the atomizer, is in how to rinse a glass; where the rinse sits against sugar and bitters is in Sazerac ratios.

Pernod and the Other Stand-ins

Pernod turns up by name in three of the recipes we rely on: Chris McMillian's Ritz-Carlton Sazerac and Arnaud's both read "Herbsaint or Pernod," and Tom Macy's 2018 co-winning build specifies "absinthe, preferably Pernod." Any pastis-style anise liqueur does the same job Herbsaint does — anise without wormwood — and is treated the same way: rinse and discard. Difford's uses La Fée Parisienne absinthe across its Sazerac specs, and William Elliott's Maison Premiere build used Jade 1901. Brands here are style examples, not rankings. Whichever bottle you choose, the lemon peel still goes over the top — see the Sazerac lemon peel.

Which Should You Use?

If you want the drink as New Orleans pours it, use Herbsaint and a 100-proof rye. If you want the drink as the 1908 recipe and the IBA describe it, use absinthe and a softer rye. The record supports both, and the method is identical. What the record does not support is skipping the rinse or serving the drink over ice — see best Sazerac glass for why.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should a Sazerac be rinsed with absinthe or Herbsaint?

Both are documented. Absinthe is the historical rinse (Boothby 1908, IBA, PUNCH, Morgenthaler); Herbsaint has been the New Orleans standard since its introduction in 1934, after the 1912 absinthe ban, and is what the Sazerac House, Cure and most bars in the city use. Pick by your rye: a spicier 100-proof rye with Herbsaint, a 40–45% rye with absinthe.

What is Herbsaint?

A New Orleans anise liqueur made as an absinthe substitute in 1934 by J. Marion Legendre and Reginald Parker. It was first sold as 'Legendre Absinthe' until federal regulators objected, has never contained wormwood, and has been owned by the Sazerac Company since 1949. The 100-proof 1934 recipe was reissued as Herbsaint Original in December 2009.

How much absinthe goes in a Sazerac?

Enough to coat the glass, then pour the excess out: about 1/4 oz (Sazerac House), 1 barspoon (PUNCH), 4 dashes (Difford's) or 5 ml (Oxford Companion). Cure uses four spritzes from an atomizer instead.

Is absinthe legal in the United States?

Yes, since 2007. It was banned in 1912, which is why New Orleans bars adopted Herbsaint and why many still use it.

What if I have no absinthe or Herbsaint?

Pernod is the named stand-in in Chris McMillian's, Arnaud's and Tom Macy's recipes; any pastis-style anise liqueur is used the same way, rinsed and discarded. Without an anise rinse of some kind the drink is an Improved Whiskey Cocktail or an Old Fashioned, not a Sazerac.

Does Herbsaint taste like absinthe?

Close, but sweeter and lower in proof, as Chris Hannah, formerly of Arnaud's French 75 Bar, puts it — and with no wormwood. In a rinse the difference shows mostly in which rye balances best.