NEW ORLEANS -- Bottom's up to this city where the "cocktail" was
probably
invented.
At last count,
there were more than 3,000 places to get a drink.
New Orleans has more liquor-selling establishments including drive-in
Daiquiri bars per inhabitant than any other U. S. city.
The "go-cups"
to take your cocktail with you are the city's
best-known symbol, so it's no surprise that a new walking tour guides
visitors to the best-known spirits around.
"This is not
a pub crawl like many of these tours, but a look at
the city's history in food and drink," said Tom Loesch, a Gray Line tour
guide for the two-hour trip known as the "Southern Comfort Cocktail Tour."
"We don't think there's any city anywhere that has this type of tour," he
adds.
Of course, most cities don't have the passion for food and drink that havecharacterized the city since its often Irish-immigrants started settling
here in 1718.
"Fifty percent of them died on the way. Another 50 percent didn't survive
the first year. So you can see why they turned to drink," Loesch said.
A highlight of the tour is a visit to 437 Royal Street, now the James. H.
Cohen Antique Weapons and Swords shop, but often cited as the place where
the cocktail was invented.
Just how
Americans came to call them "cocktails" is sometimes
disputed both in bar socializing and in academic circles, but a common story
is that it was the work of Antoine Peychaud who in the late 1700s began
dispensing brandy-based cures from his apothecary.
"He had a
recipe for bitters in an egg cup full of brandy. Noone's been able to figure why he started doing that, but it was very
effective for upset stomachs. It's still effective for upset stomachs,"
Loesch said.
The eggcup
was known in French as a coquetier, which in typical
tongue-tied fashion, residents mispronounced as cock-tay and then cocktail.
Legend has it
that the idea of having an alcoholic drink just
because you felt like it spread from here to the rest of the still-young
country.
Since then, as tour participants find out, many famous drinks
have apparently originated here.
Peychaud's
first cocktail used Sazerac Cognac, and since then
the Sazerac has become closely associated with the city. The drink, which is
the house specialty at the elegant Sazerac bar in the Fairmont Hotel,started out here as Absinthe mixed with cognac or rye whiskey. Ruled to be a
mild hallucinogenic drug, Absinthe was banned in 1912, but Sazerac drinkers
simply switched to Herbsaint.
The Sazerac
is now Herbsaint (an anise-flavored liqueur) and
whiskey mixed with bitters and sugar, served with a twist.
Another
famous drink generally regarded as starting here is the
Gin Fizz, introduced in 1888 by Henry Ramos, a local bartender. The drink
was a favorite of Louisiana Governor Huey Long. When he moved to Washington
after being elected to the U. S. Senate, he imported his own bartender to be
assured of a supply. He helped make the drink, literally, the toast of the
capital.
Still another popular drink is Pimm's Cup #1, which is today served at
Wimbledon tennis tournaments with strawberry shortcake. The real thing here
is a mixture of Pimm's Cup #1, an herbal gin from England, mixed with
semi-sweet lemonade and 7-Up. It tastes like a lighter but spicier version
of a Long Island Iced Tea.
The city is
also known for the infamous Hurricane first served
at Pat O'Brien's. Many visitors use their "to go" cups to finish the
26-ounce behemoth of rum and fruit juice, served in a glass in the shape of
a hurricane lamp, garnished with a lemon and a cherry.
The drink has
been a famous fixture at O'Brien's since just
after World War II, when bars found whiskey hard to get, but rum readily
available.
It's not
known for any particular cocktail, but one of the first
stops on the tour is often a famous Irish bar called O'Flaherety's Irish
Channel Pub, where visitors can drink their favorite beverages in a red
brick courtyard shaded by huge magnolias while listening to Irish and Celtic
music.
A
budget-saving tip: Rolling Rock beer is $1 every Monday, and
on that day, there's free red beans and rice from 7 p.m. to closing.
Food and
drink go together in New Orleans, of course, and the
cordial tour takes visitors to noted places such as Galatoire's, a favorite
of Tennessee Williams, and Antoine's, the oldest restaurant in New Orleans
and second oldest in the country (next to Delmonico's in New York City).
Tour
participants at Antoine's see a small, windowless room that
used to be used for storage that today gathers together the city's movers
and shakers when they want a little privacy.
Another
notable stop is at Brennan's, which is known for its
wine cellar of 35,000 bottles, its breakfast dishes such as crabmeat omelet'
s topped with Hollandaise Sauce, and its Bananas Foster, which was invented
here.
Some other
tour stops and Loesch's own personal favorite
drinking places:
Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, one of the oldest structures in the
country dating back to 1772, is a popular haunt for tourists and locals such
as Loesch, who likes its dark interior and friendly drinkers. It also has
one of the best jukeboxes in the city.
The small, 24-seat Carousel Bar in the historic Hotel Monteleone is
the city's only bar that revolves around the room. It has great views
through large fan windows overlooking Royal Street. While enjoying a drink,
you can conjure up the spirits of writers such as William Faulkner and
Truman Capote who used to drink here.
The Port of Call is open daily and attracts entire families for its steaks and hamburgers, which are often rated among the best in the city.
If you're looking for a quiet place, the Feelings Café with a
picturesque courtyard and a piano bar may be the most romantic bar in the
city. A high-walled brick patio with palms and banana trees creates a quiet
and get-away-from-it all atmosphere.
Another popular spot that attracts visitors perhaps not looking for
famous drinks, but more interested in celebrity is Gennifer Flowers' Kelsto
Club, which opened in 2001. The sultry singer who became famous as former
President Clinton's girlfriend often performs there.
Once known as a lot bawdier than it is today, Bourdon Street again is
showing the long-lost art of the striptease at the Shim Sham Club. Six
ladies bump n grind nightly to the music of a live, seven-piece jazz
ensemble. There's also a bawdy comedian.
Bottoms up, indeed.
Concocting a Name
H. L Mencken once reported there were seven full-fledged versions of how the
cocktail got its name, including a report that cites a drink called "cock's
ale" served in early colonial times during cockfights.
But New York Times writer and linguist William Safire puts his bet on New
Orleans's claim to fame.
He also has
some sober words for anyone who thinks the
controversy is a waste of time.
:"Were it not
for this word, nobody could put on a cocktail
dress, go to a cocktail party, put their feet up on a cocktail table, or
listen to a cocktail pianist," he said.
If you go: The two and a half hour tours begin at 4 p.m., seven days a week,
at Toulouse St. and the Mississippi River in the French Quarter.
The price for
adults is $24.
For more information, contact WWW.graylineneworleans.com, or 800-535-7786.
