Thomas H. Handy Sazerac
Straight Rye Whiskey
by Brian Donnelly
History
It is impossible to tell the story of Thomas H. Handy, or Sazerac Rye Whiskey, without telling the development of the famous Sazerac Cocktail.
Antoine Peychaud (1803-1883) was a pharmacist and owned an apothecary on Royal Street, in the French Quarters in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the creator of the now-famous Peychaud's Bitters and is often credited with inventing America's first cocktail. This cocktail would undergo many changes, adaptations, and transportations before being eventually known as The Sazerac.
In the United States, the coffee shop had replaced the saloon as the drinking environment of choice. Nowhere was this more clear than in New Orleans. The most popular and largest coffee shop at the time was the Merchants Exchange Coffee House. Built-in 1836, the Merchant Exchange was located in the French Quarter on Royal Street, with a back door entrance on Exchange Alley. The establishment was owned by a spirits importer and wholesaler named Sewell Taylor (1812-1861). Taylor, being a shrewd businessman, only sold his imported products at the Exchange. One of his most popular products was a Cognac called Sazerac de Forge et Fils. The Merchants Exchange only sold one cocktail, which used Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac and Peychaud's Bitters. Taylor's lease was not renewed in 1849, and he sold the business to Aaron Bird (1793-1864), then opened up a spirits retail shop on Royal Street. In 1952, Bird changed the name to the Sazerac Coffee House to further promote their primary drink.
In 1860, shortly after his death, Bird passed the Sazerac Coffee House's operation to J.B. Schiller, who was a local importer of Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac. Schiller ran the Sazerac Coffee House until 1869 and will be remembered for two crucial business decisions. He expanded the business's size to include the unit next door, and he hired a young sales clerk named Thomas H. Handy (1839-1893).
Previously, Handy had been working at Taylor's retail spirits shop on Royal Street. In 1865, Handy began working at the Sazerac Coffee House, and in 1869, he, along with several other employees, purchased the business from Schiller, who was in poor health and soon passed away. Finally, in 1873, the new Thomas H. Handy & Co. becomes the sole importer in New Orleans for Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac. A few years later, though, Handy loses most of his money in lousy railroad investments, which forced him to dissolve his company before he was eventually bought out in 1878 by a man named Vicent Micas. Micas became the Sazerac House owner, sole importer for Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac, and Peychaud's Bitters owner.
Mica's financial luck also turned south, and in 1882 he lost the lease to the Sazerac House, and the building was demolished. He opened "The Old Sazerac" bar and retail spirits shop at Common and Camp street. In October of the same year, Handy rebuilt and reopened the Sazerac House at the original location. Micas never completely rebuilt his finances, and in 1884 he sold his bar and retail shop to an employee, Theodore Baumann, and moved to France. This finally ended the business competition between Handy and Micas.
The mid to late 1800s saw the arrival of an invisible enemy that neither Handy, Micas, or the European wine industry could have foreseen. Phylloxera is a microscopic insect native to North American grapevines that laid waste to much of the European wine industry and were incredibly destructive in France. In addition to French wine, all grape-based spirits such as Brandy and Cognac also became unavailable. In 1880, the Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac company in France officially went out of business. This chain of events caused the bartenders in New Orleans to switch from Cognac to American Rye Whiskey for the Sazerac cocktail.
After the death of Thomas H. Handy in 1893, a financial investor in The Sazerac House named William McQuoid reestablished the Thomas H. Handy & Co. The company had been working on a pre-mixed and ready-to-drink Sazerac cocktail before Handy's death. In 1901, the pre-bottled cocktail was marketed on a national level but was not overly successful. C.J. O'Reilly, Handy's former secretary, purchased Handy's business's rights and relaunched the business as the Sazerac Company. Capitalizing on the shift in preference from Cognac to American Rye Whiskey, O'Reilly also released a whiskey by the same name.
In 1970, the Sazerac Company purchased back the rights to Peychaud's Bitters from L.E. Jung & Wulff Co. This brand was once owned and produced by Thomas H. Handy and now is back under the control of his company's successor. In 2006, the Sazerac Company released the Sazerac Rye Whiskey produced at the Buffalo Trace Distillery. With classic packaging, this brand pays homage to the original rye whiskey of the 1880s, perfect for crafting the authentic Sazerac cocktail. Finally, in 2019, the new five-story Sazerac House was relaunched on the corner of Canal and Magazine in the French Quarter, just four-hundred yards from the original location's site. For more information about The Sazerac House or Sazerac de Forge & Fils Cognac, please click the links below.
Thomas H. Handy Sazerac, Straight Rye Whiskey
Thomas H. Handy is a barrel proof and non-chill filtered limited release rye whiskey produced by the Buffalo Trace Distillery, and one of five expressions in the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (BTAC).
The Buffalo Trace Distillery provides a high degree of transparency about every aspect of this expression's production. The links are available below:
Annual Release Letters from 2006 to 2022, click here.
Corazón Añejo Tequila - Thomas H. Handy Cask-Finish
The ideal gift! Buy the best anejo tequila online. Price and reviews available for Corazon Expresiones Del Corazn Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Añejo Anejo Tequila - 750ml Bottle. Spanish for heart, the word Corazn expresses our boundless enthusiasm for creating the world's finest tequilas. We craft Expresiones del Corazn from the finest blue agave, hand selected in the Los Altos region of Jalisco. Using time-honored methods at the renowned Casa San Matas distillery, the agave hearts are slow-cooked in stone ovens then pressed, fermented, and distilled with expert care. Only when the blanco is judged to meet our highest standard is it placed in seasoned whiskey barrels. This amazing Aejo was aged for 19 months in Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye barrels. The final result is powerful, lush, and boldly spicy. Experience the full array of Expresiones del Corazn de Agave. Each bottle is derived from a single barrel, providing distinction and discovery in every sip.
Sazerac Rye
The ideal gift! Buy the best whiskey online. Price and reviews available for Sazerac Rye Whiskey - 750ml Bottle. The One and Only New Orleans Original. Sazerac Rye Whiskey symbolizes the tradition and history of New Orleans. Rye Whiskey dates back to the 1800's, around the time when saloons, veiled as Coffee Houses, began lining the streets of New Orleans. It was at the Sazerac Coffee House on Royal Street where local patrons were served toddies made with Rye Whiskey and Peychaud's Bitters. The libation became known as the Sazerac and America's first branded cocktail was born. This is the whiskey that started it all.
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