The Vieux Carré was born sometime prior to 1937 in New Orleans at what would later become the Carousel Bar at the Monteleone Hotel.  According to Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, the cocktail was named for the old French term for New Orleans’s French Quarter—le Vieux Carré—which means “The Old Square.”

Vieux Carré

1 ounce rye whiskey
1 ounce cognac
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1/2 teaspoon Benedictine
2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir all ingredients with ice, then strain into an ice-filled Old Fashioned glass.  Garnish with a twist of lemon.