🥃 Brandy Crusta

Brandy Crusta is a classic New Orleans cocktail of brandy, lemon juice, the liqueurs maraschino and curaçao, and aromatic bitters. It is served in a narrow glass with a sugared rim and a wide strip of peel inside. Brandy Crusta is considered a forerunner of the Sidecar, and the IBA lists it among "The Unforgettables".

History. According to Difford's Guide, the cocktail was created in the 1850s by Joseph Santini, an Italian from Trieste, either at the City Exchange bar in the French Quarter or in his own saloon, Jewel of the South, on Gravier Street, which opened in 1855. The recipe was first printed in 1862 in Jerry Thomas's "Bar-Tender's Guide", where the author's name was misspelled as "Santina".

The crust. The name comes from the English word "crust". The rim of the glass is rubbed with lemon or orange and dipped in fine sugar; the sugar hardens and holds the peel strip that lines the glass. Thomas also gave versions with whiskey and gin, but it was the brandy version that survived.

Recipe. The IBA recipe: 52.5 ml brandy, 7.5 ml maraschino, a bar spoon of curaçao, 15 ml lemon juice, a bar spoon of syrup and two dashes of bitters. Everything is stirred with ice and strained into the prepared glass. Difford's Guide uses cognac and dry curaçao and shakes the drink. Sazerac, another old cocktail on cognac or whiskey, also comes from New Orleans.

Why it matters to you. The sugared rim makes the Brandy Crusta sweeter than the recipe suggests, and one serving contains more than 50 ml of brandy, about 22% ABV by Difford's Guide's calculation. WHO reminds us: there is no safe amount of alcohol.