The famous French Quarter of New Orleans is home to many influential cocktails in the history of mixology. One of them is the Vieux Carré Cocktail. The refined recipe is full of flavor and contains cognac, whiskey, sweet vermouth, D.O.M. Bénédictine, and bitters.
Quick Facts Vieux Carre Cocktail
The Vieux Carré is a short drink and comparable to the Manhattan cocktail. However, the Vieux Carré is a lot more complex.
For a short drink, the Vieux Carré has a relatively long list of ingredients, making this one of the most sophisticated and ambitious of the vintage cocktail classics:
For an authentic Vieux Carré Cocktail, you do need D.O.M. Benedictine. However, you can replace it with other herbal liqueurs if you don't want to get a bottle.
With only a bar spoon, the question of whether it really makes a difference and if you really have to buy a bottle of this liqueur is understandable and justified. Yet, it does make a difference:
D.O.M. Benedictine is a liqueur made with herbs, spices, citrus, and saffron from Normandy in France. The flavor is extremely complex, and intense. So as little as one bar spoon will alter the overall taste of your drink.
However, if you want to replace it, Green Chartreuse, Drambuie, and even Jägermeister are among the common substitutes.
The Vieux Carré is intense, boozy, and bold. It's sweet, bitter, smooth, and very alcoholic. The drink's base is a blend of Rye and cognac, both of which are able to unfold their aroma. The spicy notes from the whiskey blend amazingly well with the smooth, fruity, floral notes of the premium brandy.
The rich sweet vermouth combined with the herbaceous notes from D.O.M. Bénédictine brings a broad mix of herbs, spices, and botanicals. To round everything off, two different cocktail bitters add depth of flavor.
If you're familiar with both Manhattan and Sazerac, you can look at the Vieux Carré Cocktail as a mix of these two.
Vieux Carré literally translates to Old Quarter. Vieux means old in French, and Carré quarter or square. It refers to a common nickname for the French Quarter in New Orleans: Old Quarter.
The French Quarter in New Orleans is probably the most famous part of the town. And as the name very much implies, it was under strong French influence. And the cocktail pays a well-deserved tribute to it.
It was back in 1938 in the legendary Carousel Bar where Walter Bergeron mixed up the very first version of the Vieux Carré. Located inside Hotel Monteleone, the Carousel Bar was one of the most popular spots in the French Quarter at that time.
Maybe you noticed that, despite the hotel being in the French Quarter, its name is Italian. This mix of heritages also reflects in the cocktail recipe:
The components of the Vieux Carre are French cognac, French brandy, American Rye whiskey, and sweet Italian vermouth. -A truly brilliant representation of the diverse American society in the early 20th century.
And its simple yet refined classiness is a principal reason why this cocktail is still on many cocktail menus all over the country.
New Orleans is home to many famous cocktails. And the Vieux Carré is certainly one of the more popular ones, but there is more:
Here are some more classic cocktail recipes you should try if you're a fan of the Vieux Carré Cocktail.
Drinks from New Orleans
Many different classic cocktail recipes originated in New Orleans. The most famous creations are
More Cognac Cocktails
If you like the Vieux Carré and want to try more cocktails based on Cognac, how about:
For even more cognac drinks, head over to the overview of our favorite brandy cocktails.