10 classic New Orleans cocktails
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A hand grenade does indeed induce some blurry experiences. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
New Orleans may or may not have invented the cocktail, but we feel pretty confident that the city's bars and bartenders perfected it.
Why it matters: There's no better place to get in touch with your favorites, whether they're shaken or stirred.
Here are 10 classic New Orleans cocktails to get you started.
🥚 Ramos gin fizz: Invented by Henry C. Ramos near the end of the 19th century, the subtle cocktail is made with gin, lemon, egg white, simple syrup and seltzer.
- Even though its creator was said to shake the drink for 10 or so minutes, it was so popular that Ramos famously ordered 5,000 eggs a week to keep up with demand, Gambit reports.
🥃 Vieux Carre: This homage to the French Quarter was first mixed up at the Hotel Monteleone's Carousel Bar by head bartender Walter Bergeron in the 1930s.
- The stout beverage is served up with rye whiskey, cognac, vermouth, Benedictine and bitters.
🔥 Cafe Brulot: Antoine's Restaurant in the French Quarter was the start of a few New Orleans culinary traditions, and setting this after-dinner beverage on fire was one of them.
- The Cafe Brulot was created by Jules Alciatore with brandy, orange liqueur, citrus oil, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, coffee — and a lighter.
⚜️ Sazerac: Old New Orleans apothecary owner Antoine Peychaud is said to have first stirred up his namesake bitters with absinthe, sugar and a batch of the local Sazerac company's cognac, creating what's perhaps the city's most well-known cocktail.
🍹 Hurricane: Invented at Pat O'Brien's, the hurricane is a product of wartime limitations. Back in the 1940s, it was tough to get much domestic liquor, but the popular Bourbon Street bar had no problem getting lots and lots of rum.
- So, the bar staff came up with a concoction that included passion fruit and lemon — and the hurricane was born.
💚 The grasshopper: A winner from the start, long-ago Tujaque's owner Philibert Guichet created this creamy mint concoction for a cocktail competition in New York, blending crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and cream.
☕️ Frozen Irish coffee: A stop at Molly's at the Market isn't complete until you've had this creamy, coffee-swirl-topped drink.
- It's been a French Quarter favorite for more than four decades, and it's churned out of a frozen drink machine more closely related to a Wendy's Frosty than a slushee.
🥃 Brandy crusta: Once nearly forgotten, this drink is back on the map, thanks to bartender Chris Hannah's passion for reviving classics; it's a signature at his Jewel of the South.
- He says it's the first drink with a rimmed glass, and the first to use a singular fruit juice, as opposed to a prepared punch. Go deeper.
🪖 Hand grenade: Invented by Tropical Isle after the 1984 World's Fair, this quintessential melon-y Bourbon Street cocktail is responsible for the start of limitless bad decisions.