Improved Whiskey Cocktail Recipe: The Sazerac's 1876 Ancestor

Before there was a Sazerac in print there was the Improved Whiskey Cocktail. Jerry Thomas added it to the 1876 edition of The Bar-Tender's Guide: a whiskey cocktail of bitters, gum syrup and lemon peel, "improved" with a dash of absinthe and two of maraschino, shaken with shaved ice and strained into a fancy cocktail glass. The Oxford Companion calls it an early precursor to the Sazerac and says that, apart from the absinthe rinse, the Sazerac was nearly identical to it.

That makes it the missing step between the Old Fashioned and the Sazerac, and worth making for that reason. This page gives Thomas's 1876 text, Difford's Guide's modern adaptation, where the drink sits between its two famous relatives, and which rye to use.

What 'Improved' Meant

In Thomas's book a plain whiskey cocktail was whiskey, sugar and bitters, the drink the Old Fashioned would later be named for. An "improved" cocktail was that drink with two additions from the fancy end of the 1870s back bar: a dash of absinthe and a couple of dashes of maraschino, the clear cherry liqueur. Thomas printed an Improved Brandy Cocktail first and then the whiskey version, substituting "Bourbon or rye whiskey" for the brandy. The result is an Old Fashioned with a whisper of anise and maraschino's funky sweetness, served up rather than over ice.

The 1876 date matters. No Sazerac appears in Thomas's 1862 first edition, and the Sazerac itself is not named in print until 1899. The Improved Whiskey Cocktail is the earliest printed drink with the Sazerac's parts in it.

Thomas's 1876 Text

In the 1876 edition the recipe sits in an appendix; the 1887 edition scanned at archive.org says only to make it like the Improved Brandy Cocktail with Bourbon or rye whiskey substituted. That brandy recipe, with whiskey swapped in, reads: 2 dashes Boker's (or Angostura) Bitters; 3 dashes gum syrup; 2 dashes Maraschino; 1 dash Absinthe; 1 small piece of the yellow rind of a lemon, twisted to express the oil; 1 small wine-glass of Bourbon or rye whiskey. "Fill glass one-third full of shaved ice, shake well, and strain into a fancy cocktail glass. Put the lemon peel in the glass and serve."

Two things stand out to a modern reader. The drink is shaken, not stirred, because that is how Thomas's improved cocktails were made. And the absinthe goes into the drink as a dash, not onto the glass as a rinse; the rinse-and-discard was the Sazerac House's own refinement, documented by 1901.

From Old Fashioned to Sazerac

Read left to right and the lineage is clear. Add absinthe and maraschino to an Old Fashioned and you have the Improved Whiskey Cocktail. Move the absinthe from the drink to the glass, swap the bitters for Peychaud's, drop the maraschino and serve it neat in a chilled rocks glass, and you have the Sazerac. The maraschino did not vanish at once: Wondrich's reconstruction of the Sazerac House's 1890s whisky cocktail includes 3 ml of it, and PUNCH reports research confirming a hint of maraschino in Handy & Co.'s bottled Sazeracs. The Old Fashioned end of the line is the rye Old Fashioned recipe; the Sazerac end is the rye Sazerac recipe; the two are compared in Old Fashioned vs Sazerac.

How It Compares with the Classic Rye Sazerac

Side by side, the Improved Whiskey Cocktail is sweeter and rounder than a Sazerac, because the maraschino adds its own sugar and the absinthe is in the drink rather than on the glass. It is also less distinctive on the nose: a Sazerac's rinse puts the anise where you smell it first, while a dash shaken through the drink spreads it thin. The bitters change the character most. Boker's or Angostura give a darker, more bitter-spice backbone; Peychaud's gives the Sazerac its anise-and-cherry brightness, which is why the Peychaud's guide calls it non-negotiable. Serving matters too: shaken with shaved ice, the 1876 drink is colder and more diluted than a stirred Sazerac. The Sazerac's technique, including the two-glass chill and the no-ice rule, is in how to make a Sazerac.

The Modern Spec

Difford's Guide adapts the drink for a modern bar: 1 fl oz 100-proof rye and 1 fl oz bourbon, ⅙ fl oz maraschino, 1/12 fl oz absinthe, ¼ fl oz gomme syrup and 1 dash Boker's-style bitters, stirred and served over a large cube with lemon zest. It keeps Thomas's "Bourbon or rye" by using both, measures the dashes, and moves the drink from shaken-and-up to stirred-on-a-rock, which is to say it turns it back into an Old Fashioned. Either version is correct; Thomas's is the historical drink and Difford's is the one most bars would recognize.

Choosing the Rye

Thomas allows bourbon or rye; rye is the choice here because it is where the drink was heading. Rittenhouse Bottled-in-Bond Rye (100 proof, guide price $26.99) matches Difford's 100-proof call exactly and has the spice to carry maraschino. Old Overholt Straight Rye (86 proof, $19.99) is the gentler, old-name option, the rye St. John Frizell used in his co-winning 2018 PUNCH Sazerac. Pikesville Straight Rye (110 proof, $41.99) is for the shaken 1876 version, where the shaved ice takes more out of the whiskey. If you make Difford's split, any bourbon with rye as its flavoring grain will do for the other half. The full Sazerac shortlist is in the Bottle Library.

Gum Syrup, Maraschino and Bitters

Gum syrup, gomme in Difford's spelling, is sugar syrup thickened with gum arabic; it gives the drink a silkier texture than plain syrup, and Boothby's 1908 Sazerac uses it too. A rich 2:1 syrup is the practical substitute, and the sugar guide covers how the Sazerac's sweetening evolved from there. Maraschino is a dry cherry liqueur, not the syrup from a cherry jar; two dashes is all the recipe wants. Boker's is the bitters Thomas names first; Angostura is his own listed alternative, and the easier one to find. The absinthe should be real absinthe or Herbsaint, dashed from the bottle; the rinse technique the Sazerac later adopted is in how to rinse a glass with absinthe.

Where It Leads

• The Sazerac House's whisky cocktail: rye, Peychaud's, Angostura, a touch of maraschino and an absinthe rinse, as Wondrich reconstructs it. The story is in who invented the Sazerac.
• The full timeline: Thomas's 1876 appendix, Boothby's 1908 recipe, the 1899 first mention and Arthur's 1937 legend, in the history of the Sazerac.
• Every variation: the Cognac build, the split base, the bourbon version and the De La Louisiane in Sazerac variations, and every recipe in the recipe room.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Improved Whiskey Cocktail?

A whiskey cocktail from Jerry Thomas's 1876 Bar-Tender's Guide: bourbon or rye with 3 dashes gum syrup, 2 dashes maraschino, 2 dashes Boker's or Angostura bitters and 1 dash absinthe, shaken with shaved ice, strained into a cocktail glass and served with a piece of lemon peel.

Is the Improved Whiskey Cocktail the original Sazerac?

No, but it is the Sazerac's structural ancestor. The Oxford Companion says that apart from the absinthe rinse the Sazerac was nearly identical to it. The Sazerac is first named in print in 1899; Thomas's drink appears in 1876.

What is the difference between an Improved Whiskey Cocktail and a Sazerac?

The Improved dashes absinthe and maraschino into the drink, uses Boker's or Angostura, is shaken with shaved ice and served up with the peel in the glass. The Sazerac rinses the glass with absinthe, uses Peychaud's, is stirred and served neat in a chilled rocks glass with the peel expressed.

Should it be shaken or stirred?

Thomas says shake, with shaved ice, because that is how his improved cocktails were made. Difford's modern version is stirred and served over a large cube. Either is documented; the shaken drink is colder and more diluted.

What is gum syrup?

Sugar syrup thickened with gum arabic, the standard sweetener of the 19th-century bar; Difford's calls it gomme. A rich 2:1 simple syrup is the practical substitute.

Bourbon or rye?

Thomas allows either. Rye is the choice here because the drink's descendant, the Sazerac, is a rye cocktail. Difford's modern adaptation uses an ounce of each.