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The Fabled Pour

Peychaud's bitters

Also called Peychaud's Aromatic Cocktail Bitters, Creole bitters

The red, anise and cherry scented bitters of New Orleans, 35% ABV, lighter and sweeter than Angostura with a gentian edge. Created by apothecary Antoine Amédée Peychaud in the 1830s and now made by the Sazerac Company, it is the bitters that define a Sazerac.

  • anise
  • cherry
  • gentian
  • orange zest
  • celery seed
  • mint
  • soft clove

Origin

Antoine Amédée Peychaud arrived in New Orleans in 1795 as a refugee from Saint-Domingue, bought a Royal Street apothecary in 1834 and sold an 'American Aromatic Bitter Cordial' as a tonic, mixing it with brandy for friends and local bars. He first advertised the cordial in 1857, and the Sazerac Coffee House is tied to the cocktail that bears its name around 1858, though David Wondrich's research reads the Sazerac as a bottled Whiskey Cocktail sold by the Sazerac company in the 1890s. Peychaud sold the pharmacy and the formula about a decade later; Thomas H. Handy, whose firm took over the Sazerac House in 1869, controlled the bitters by 1878, and today the Sazerac Company makes them.

Production and safety

Used in dashes; the bottle keeps indefinitely at room temperature.

Allergens: None

Common uses

  • sazerac
  • Vieux Carré
  • Seelbach with bourbon and Champagne
  • Cocktail à la Louisiane
  • a dash in a Pisco Sour or Whiskey Sour foam

Pours that use it

Sources

  1. Peychaud's Aromatic Cocktail Bitters (Difford's product page), Difford's Guide · secondary source, retrieved 2026-10-11
  2. Sazerac (New Orleans style), Difford's Guide · secondary source, retrieved 2026-10-11
  3. Our story (company timeline), Sazerac Company · primary source, retrieved 2026-10-11