La Louisiane
La Louisiane was the house cocktail of Restaurant La Louisiane, one of New Orleans' most storied dining establishments, and appeared in Stanley Clisby Arthur's 1937 guide "Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em." It is a Manhattan variation in structure, rye whiskey and sweet vermouth as the foundation, with Bénédictine replacing the conventional sweetener and absinthe adding an aromatic undercurrent that marks it unmistakably as a product of New Orleans drinking culture. It is a drink of considerable depth for something built in a mixing glass with no citrus and no theatre. The Bénédictine brings honey, herbal complexity, and a warmth that simple syrup or even a standard liqueur cannot replicate. The absinthe is a seasoning, not a feature. Too much and it dominates. The correct amount is the one you can sense but cannot isolate. Like many New Orleans classics, La Louisiane rewards slow consumption and a quality vermouth. This is not a drink to build with a vermouth that has been open for three months. Treat it as a perishable ingredient and the drink will tell you why immediately.
Glassware: Nick & Nora Glass
Garnish: Maraschino Cherry
Ingredients
30ml
A rye with enough spice and backbone to hold its own alongside the Bénédictine without being overwhelmed by the vermouth.
30ml
Use a quality vermouth and treat it as perishable. Refrigerate after opening and replace after four weeks. A tired vermouth will flatten the drink completely.
30ml
Brings honey, herbal complexity, and warmth that anchors the drink. There is no direct substitute.
2 dashes
A seasoning, not a feature. Two dashes is correct. More and it dominates every other element in the glass.
3 dashes
The New Orleans standard and the correct choice here. Brings anise and a floral quality that Angostura cannot replicate in this structure.
Instructions
Chill a Nick & Nora glass in the freezer or with ice water before building the drink.
Add rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, Bénédictine, absinthe, and Peychaud's bitters to a mixing glass.
Add a scoop of large cubed ice and stir for 20 to 25 seconds until well chilled and properly diluted.
Discard the chilling ice from the coupe and strain the cocktail cleanly into the glass.
Drop a Luxardo Maraschino Cherry into the drink or skewer it on the rim.
Serve immediately.
Expert Tip
The equal-parts structure means every ingredient is fully exposed. A poor vermouth or a stale one will not hide behind the rye. Buy a fresh bottle, keep it refrigerated, and use it within four weeks: that single habit will improve this drink more than any other adjustment available. Two dashes of absinthe and no more. It is a seasoning rather than a feature, and the correct amount is the one you can sense but cannot isolate. A third dash and the anise stops supporting the Bénédictine and starts competing with it. Peychaud's rather than Angostura. The anise and floral character of Peychaud's is what ties the absinthe and the Bénédictine together, where Angostura's clove and cinnamon pull in a different direction entirely.
Behind the La Louisiane
Flavour Profile
The Origin
Restaurant La Louisiane opened in New Orleans in 1881 and became one of the city's most celebrated dining institutions over the following decades. The cocktail that bore its name appeared in Stanley Clisby Arthur's 1937 guide "Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em," a document that preserved a number of drinks that might otherwise have been lost in the years following Prohibition. Arthur credited the drink to the restaurant without naming a specific bartender. Whether it was created there or simply adopted as the house pour is not recorded.
New Orleans cocktail culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was defined by a willingness to use Peychaud's bitters, absinthe, and French liqueurs in combinations that bartenders elsewhere were not working with. La Louisiane is a product of that environment. It could not have come from anywhere else.
The Structure
The equal-parts format of rye, sweet vermouth, and Bénédictine gives this drink an unusual honesty. There is no dominant ingredient. Each one contributes something the others cannot. The rye provides spice and grip. The vermouth provides body, sweetness, and wine character. The Bénédictine provides herbal complexity, honey, and warmth. Peychaud's bitters provide anise and floral aromatics. The absinthe, in two dashes, adds a low background note of anise that ties the Bénédictine and Peychaud's together without announcing itself.
Remove any single element and the drink becomes noticeably less interesting. That is the mark of a well-constructed recipe.
The Vermouth Question
More cocktails are ruined by poor or stale vermouth than by any other single variable. In a drink where vermouth represents one third of the total volume, the quality and freshness of what you use is not negotiable. Sweet vermouth is a wine-based product. It oxidises after opening. A bottle left at room temperature for several months will produce a flat, slightly bitter result that no amount of quality rye or Bénédictine can rescue. Buy a fresh bottle, refrigerate it immediately after opening, and replace it within four weeks. That discipline alone will produce a better La Louisiane than most bars serve.
How to Serve It
Stirred, strained, and served cold in a coupe with a single Luxardo cherry. This is a late evening drink, best consumed slowly. It has enough complexity to reward attention across every sip and enough weight to close a meal with genuine satisfaction. It is not a session drink and it is not designed to be. Pour one, pour it properly, and give it the attention it asks for.
The Bénédictine
Bénédictine is doing the job a sweetener would do in a Manhattan, and it is the reason this is not simply a Manhattan variation with extras bolted on.
It is a French herbal liqueur on a brandy base, made at Fécamp in Normandy to a recipe of honey, saffron, angelica and a long list of other botanicals. What it brings here is honey and warmth alongside genuine herbal complexity, so the sweetness arrives with structure attached rather than as plain sugar.
At thirty millilitres it is a full third of the drink, which is a great deal more than the ten or fifteen it usually gets elsewhere. There is no direct substitute: a different herbal liqueur changes the character completely, and simple syrup makes something much flatter.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Whiskey (Rye)The whiskey the American classics were written for. Rye is dry and peppery where bourbon is sweet and broad, and a Manhattan or a Sazerac built on the wrong one is a noticeably different drink rather than a near miss.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a La Louisiane?
Where does it come from?
How much absinthe?
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Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits