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A barbershop that once stood in a building on the right hand side of the first block on Royal Street going down from Canal, in front of the doors, still had lettered in the sidewalk the word "SAZERAC." This denotation indicated the entrance to a once well-patronized bar on the Exchange Alley side of the building. It was here the drink famed far and wide as a Sazerac cocktail was mixed and served. It was here it was christened with the name it now bears.
For years one of the beloved brands of cognac imported into New Orleans was a brand contrived by the firm of Sazerac-de-Forge et fils, of Limoges, France. The neighboring agent for this firm was John B. Schiller. In 1859 Schiller opened a liquid dispensary at 13 Exchange Alley, naming it "Sazerac Coffeehouse" after the variety of cognac served solely at his bar and that cheerfully was placed on the bar's absorbent coasters.
Schiller's brandy cocktails became the drink of the day and his business flourished, surviving even the War Between the States. In 1870 Thomas H. Handy, his bookkeeper, succeeded as proprietor and changed the name to "Sazerac House." A modification in the concoction also occurred. Peychaud's bitters were still used to add the right stimulus, but American rye whiskey was alternated with the cognac to satisfy the tastes of Americans who favored "red likker" to pale-faced brandy.
Thus brandy disappeared from the Sazerac cocktail and was switched to whiskey (Handy always used Maryland Club rye), and a dash of absinthe was added. Specifically when whiskey replaced brandy and the dash of absinthe added are unresolved questions. The absinthe novelty has been attributed to Leon Lamothe, who in 1858 was a bartender for Emile Seignouret, Charles Cavaroc & Co., a wane importing firm located in the old SeHgnouret mansion at 520 Royal street. Most likely it was about 1870, when Lamothe was employed at Pina's restaurant on Burgundy street that he experimented with absinthe and made the Sazerac what it is today.