I’d already eaten my way around New Orleans, so now it was time to check out the other thing the city does best; cocktails. A drinking tour is new for me (shocking, I know), so I was excited to see how it would differ from regular sightseeing tours or food tours.
The cocktail tour is operated by the same organization as the food tour, so many of the stops along the way were the same, but because the guides are different we still heard different stories and learnt new things - plus we were drinking instead of eating! Meeting at Tujague’s (sound familiar yet?) on Decatur Street, our guide this time around was Annette, who has lived in New Orleans for the best part of her adult life.
| Grasshopper Cocktail
Joining me was one other couple from Missouri, who were also visiting New Orleans for the first time, and happened to be in town because they’d booked a ‘mystery vacation’ through Pack Up + Go! At Tujague’s, we actually got a choice of a Grasshopper cocktail or a locally brewed lager, but since this was a cocktail tour, of course we had to go for the cocktail. The Grasshopper consists of crème de menthe and crème de cacao, plus heavy cream shaken with ice - it was invented at Tujague’s during prohibition and passed off as a dessert, you can see why!
| First Cocktail Invented
After a walk around Tujague’s and a chat about the restaurant’s fascinating history, we headed out down Royal Street to our next destination; Antoine’s. Here we tried the cocktail that I knew was coming… the Sazerac. Annette warned us that it was the kind of cocktail people either love or hate, and I have to admit, I wasn’t a fan. It’s made up of cognac, Peychaud's Bitters, absinthe, and sugar, with a lemon rind shaving to finish it off - that’s a lot of liquor! We discussed whether this was the first cocktail ever invented (Boston and New York have different stories), and learnt about the interesting history of Antoine Peychaud (different to Antoine Alciatore who founded the restaurant).
| Antoine's Rooms
A visit to Antoine’s isn’t complete without a wander around the various museum-style rooms, and luckily for me we went to different rooms from the food tour - so I feel like I’ve seen the whole building! Next up was Café Soulé on Rue de Saint Louis, a supposedly haunted building with 17-foot ceilings on all of its three floors. Here we tried a Ramos Gin Fizz, which consists of orange flower water, gin (obviously), lemon and lime juice, egg white, cream, sugar, and soda water. I love any cocktail that involves egg white, so I knew we were onto a winner here (and I was right - it was insanely good). Our bartender even described it as a ‘protein shake of alcohol’!
| Ramos Gin Fizz
Back to the New Orleans classic restaurants, our next and final destination was Arnaud’s. This time, however, instead of the main dining room we frequented on the food tour, we went to Arnaud's French 75 Bar (winner of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program) and tried a - you guessed it - French 75. I’d actually ordered one of these a couple of days ago not knowing its historical significance, so I’m glad this was on the line-up and I could understand a bit more about what I was drinking! This cocktail is named after the French 75mm field gun, one of the most powerful guns used in WW1, due to its ‘kick’ from the combination of gin, champagne, sugar and lemon juice. We were also served some of the bar’s soufflé potatoes, which were invented by accident by the French chef Collinet.
| Arnaud's French 75 Bar
That concluded our tour, but we stuck around for a while with Annette chatting about where to go for dinner (we needed something to soak up the alcohol), and just general recommendations for the area. I’d highly recommend this tour if you like your cocktails and classic drinks, or even if you just want to know more about what makes New Orleans the best place to party!
