Drew Mayville Visits Kuala Lumpur

Sazerac Master Blender Drew Mayville was in Kuala Lumpur for the first time for a series of whiskey tastings and events, including a masterclass at Smith & Wollensky, which we recently attended.

For those unfamiliar with Mayville, he has spent more than 40 years in the spirits industry, including almost 23 years with Seagram, where he worked across distilling, quality, blending and technical services before becoming the company’s fourth and final Master Blender.

The IBA Project: Sazerac

The Sazerac cocktail with Cognac.

The Grandfather Story:

• Originated around the 1830s. 
• Could've been America's first known cocktail.
• Antoine Peychauds was an apothecary from New Orleans who created the now famous Peychaud's bitters, was said to have created the original Sazerac for a cure, not as a cocktail.
• The drink is named after its original base spirit, a cognac named Sazerac de Forge et Fils.
• It was originally a cognac based cocktail, but it seems like rye whisky is the popular base now. 
• The reason for the shift to rye whisky was either 1) cognac suddenly became scarce due to a bug problem or 2) American whiskey was readily available and very popular (and also very preferred by its local drinkers) so it was used in everything then.

Fun fact: In 2008, New Orleans proclaimed it to be its official cocktail.