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Sazerac Academy

Last night, I attended one of the Sazerac Academy dinners put on by Tales of the Cocktail. Upon arrival, I first noticed all the necessary accouterments for mixing my own drink laid out at my place settings. This included a bottle of Sazerac Rye and a bottle of Herbsaint.

The menu we were offered included gumbo or a salad, redfish or chicken or veal schnitzel, and bread pudding or a strawberry sampler. I went with the salad, veal, and strawberries. The dinner was excellent. The dressing on the salad particularly reminded me of how Caesar salads are supposed to be.

During dinner, we got a lovely presentation on the history of the drink and the ingredients involved. We even go to sample a bit of a bottled Sazerac cocktail that hasn't existed for several decades.

After dinner, one of the excellent bartenders -- who is also a member of the Roosevelt Hotel's heritage group -- walked us through the creation of our own Sazeracs. I'm not really fond of them in general, but I do have to say that I am more apt to drink it the way I had it last night than how I generally get them in restaurants.

All of this only ran us $35; if we hadn't spent about $100 on sidecars at the bar, it would have been quite a steal. I recommend any of these dinners or other events put on by Tales of the Cocktail. I have yet to be disappointed.

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