As a native New Orleanian, I
started drinking alcohol relatively young. At 12 years old, I enjoyed my first drink, well multiple
drinks, at the end of summer JCC camp staff party (w/my mother’s blessing b/c I
was under the supervision of my boss & not driving). Of course, back then, it was just wine
coolers & jello shots. By high
school, I’d moved onto the party punch, ya know that fruit punch in an ice
chest with a good dose of Everclear & inevitably some grass &
dirt. It was disgustingly sweet
& could knock you on your ass.
But, back then, I was NOT a beer drinker, so the party punch was my only
option at keggers. Although I
found that punch too sweet, I do have to admit that I liked rather sweet
cocktails in my early drinking days, my favorites were White Russians, Fuzzy
Navels & Melonballs. During my
college years, my taste for alcohol had matured. I finally gave beer a try, Abita of course & a lot of
fancy foreign beers. However, when
I do drink beers these days, my favorite is the Champagne of beers, Miller High
Life, simply light & refreshing.
Now, I’m a proud wino, although, I do enjoy a cocktail, too (gin is my
liquor of choice & I can never resist a very dirty gin martini). For years now, my Cheers (the place
where everyone knows my name & they’re always glad I came) has been the Delachaise on St. Charles Ave., my
favorite watering hole in town & a great wine bar.
Anyway, I could go on & on
about my drinking history & current passion for alcohol, but let’s move on
to the topic at had. Last week, on
Memorial Day, I guided my first drinks tour for a friend & a group of her
girlfriends visiting from out of town.
Since this was a private tour, I created it on my own & gave my tour
guests a few options for different bar & cocktail stops in the French
Quarter. Even with my voice going
midway through, I have to say, the tour was a great success!
We began at the Napoleon House, for a Pimm’s
Cup. Although the Pimm’s Cup
is an English cocktail, it’s become very popular in New Orleans over the
years. When locals are in the mood
for this refreshing cocktail, they go to the place that’s famous for it, the
Napoleon House. The space was
built in the late 18th century & was the home of Mayor
Girod. Despite what those damn
buggie drivers in the Quarter will tell you, Napoleon NEVER lived there. When Napoleon had been exiled to St.
Helena, some New Orleanians, including the mayor & the pirate Jean Lafitte,
hatched a plan to rescue Napoleon & bring him to New Orleans. The Mayor added another level to his home
which was intended as Napoleon’s New Orleans residence. Hence the name, Napoleon House. It’s a great old historical building
with a beautiful little courtyard.
After passing our tour guide license exam last year, me & my tour
guide friends went there for celebratory Pimm’s Cups. So, I think that the Napoleon House was the perfect place to
begin my personal drinks tour.
After finishing off that
slice of cucumber, my favorite part of the Pimm’s Cup, we walked deep into the
quarter to our 2nd stop, Jean Lafitte’s
Blacksmith Shop Bar for a Hurricane,
a strong cocktail, but a classic New Orleans drink. Although the Hurricane was created at Pat O’Brien’s, they now use a
mix to make the drink, whereas Lafitte’s still uses fresh fruit juices, so all
locals will tell you that Lafitte’s is the better Hurricane (even without the
signature glass, resembling a hurricane lamp & inspiring the name of the
cocktail). Lafitte’s is one
of the oldest buildings in the city & said to be the oldest operating bar
in the country (but who knows if that stat is accurate). I warned my tour guests that the drink
has an extra shot of clear rum on top of the fruit juice. When you drink the Hurricane with a
straw, that final shot of rum really sneaks up on you, & if you’re not
already buzzed, you will be after the last sip. My suggestion was to stir up the drink with that straw so
that the rum blends more with the fruit juice, not that the cocktail won’t
still get you thoroughly sauced.
Thanks to the fact that New
Orleans has no open container law, we took those Hurricanes to go & started
our walk back upriver to a bit classier establishment. We made our way to Antoine’s Hermes Bar, one of my French
Quarter favorites. It has a
separate entrance from the restaurant & you don’t have to be all gussied up
to go in there. Now, I don’t have
any particular favorite cocktail at the Hermes Bar, I simply suggested a few
options, such as the Sidecar. However, it was happy hour, so we all
went for the $4 glasses of bubbly.
I was planning on getting the gals a snack at this point since they’d
just sucked back those Hurricanes & the bar has a nice little tasting menu
from the restaurant. Sadly, as it
was Memorial Day, the kitchen was closed.
While at Antoine’s, I did take the opportunity to tell the group about
New Orleans carnival krewe traditions since the restaurant has dining rooms
named for the 4 oldest carnival krewes in town. There’s plenty of photos & old paraphernalia in each
dining room (I’ve had the good fortune of seeing each one during the New
Orleans Culinary History Tours), but there are also displays in the bar. Carnival traditions are an intriguing
subject to out-of-towners, there’s nothing like them anywhere else.
We all enjoyed our bubbly
& were ready to take on the next drink. So, on to the Carousel
Bar at Hotel Monteleone for Ramoz
Gin Fizzes. This bar literally
revolves!! One of the gals in my
group asked me how long it took for the bar to complete one revolution, I
didn’t know…so, I timed it. Turns
out it takes just 10 minutes for the Carousel Bar to make one complete
revolution, there’s a bit of trivia that I’m sure you’re glad you can now tuck
away into the recesses of your brain.
When sitting at the bar, you hardly notice that it’s moving, unless you
look behind you & see your surroundings changing, which made me a bit
dizzy. As I tried to shake of the
dizzy spell, it was time for my Ramoz Gin Fizz…a cocktail that I’d never had
the pleasure of trying before! Wow, it’s like dessert in a glass, frothy, a bit
sweet, & rather filling. I
enjoyed it immensely, as did the rest of my tour group. Fortunately, the Carousel Bar also
supplies endless bowls of complementary snack mix, we scarfed down at least 6
bowls easily! While sipping our
Gin Fizzes, I told the group that this bar had once been a regular watering
whole for some of America’s great literary figures, Tennessee Williams, William
Faulkner, Truman Capote, & even Hemingway frequented the Carousel Bar. They all lived just blocks away in the
French Quarter, so they often gathered there for drinks, & I would imagine,
rather interesting conversations.
After our carousel ride, I
had one more bar planned to finish off the tour, another favorite of mine in
the Quarter. We made our way to Arnaud’s French 75 Bar for, what
else but French 75’s, of course.
It’s another restaurant bar that has a separate bar entrance & very
classy décor. We walked all the
way there & found the lights off & the doors locked…c’est domage!! I was so disappointed, not only had I
planned to have a cocktail, I was going to insist that we enjoy the scrumptious
soufflé potatoes with béarnaise sauce.
I was so embarrassed that I’d brought the group all the way over there
only to find it closed.
Even though my final bar stop
at French 75 was a failure, we had already spent 4 whole hours wandering the
quarter & partaking of tasty libations. After all that schlepping & drinking, it was time for me
to say good-bye. The girls had a
reservation at Bayona for dinner an hour
later (incidentally, one in my personal top 5 nola restaurants list), so I
recommended that they kill the time with a visit to the Sazerac
Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel
for the famous Sazerac
cocktail. If you don’t like
licorice, you won’t care for this cocktail which always has either Herbsaint or
Absinthe. But, it was the very
first cocktail, so if you’re feeling adventurous & you’ve never had one
before, the Sazerac Bar is the right place to give one a try.
The next day I heard that
they did make it to the Sazerac Bar to have their signature cocktail & then
had an amazing meal at Bayona. What
a perfect way to end a Memorial Day weekend in the Crescent City.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have
revealed all the brilliant secrets of my drinks tour, but if you’ve been
following my blog, you know that I can’t resist sharing every little detail
when I tell a story. I now have a
great drinks tour in my repertoire, which is an essential one to have ready as
a tour guide in the Big Easy. Now,
I need to focus on preparations for my first solo New Orleans Culinary History Tour
in just a week. I’m both excited
& nervous, just as I have been for the first of each of my other tours. Once I get a few under my belt, I’m
sure that I’ll be cruising right along.
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