10 Famous New Orleans cocktails and bars with a Sazerac House Tour

We went in search of the most famous cocktails and bars in New Orleans during our most recent visit to southern Louisiana. As part of our “research,” we tracked down as many iconic drinks as we could and learn as much about their storied history as possible. We even found out about crafting the perfect Sazerac cocktail at Sazerac House while touring their interactive exhibits and partaking in the free tastings.

For those who have joined the no-alcohol trend, many of the establishments we visited offer a host of new alternatives to alcoholic beverages with zero-proof cocktails and mocktails.

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10 Famous New Orleans Cocktails and Bars

Find the most famous drinks in New Orleans in legendary bars and lounges ranging from casual historic haunts to luxuriously timeless sophisticated settings. As a bonus, be prepared to be entertained, because many locations feature live music, especially in the evenings.

Here we’ve listed 11 of the most famous drinks in New Orleans, plus one craft beer.

1. The Sazerac

Invented in 1838, a Sazerac cocktail is made with either a base of rye whiskey or cognac along with absinthe, Peychaud’s Bitters and a twist of lemon. It’s a cocktail to sip not shoot, due to its high alcohol content. (Not that we were planning on shooting it.)

Antoine Amédé Peychaud definitely created the bitters used in this famous drink at his Royal Street pharmacy, but there is some debate on whether he actually created the drink. To find out more see our section on Sazerac House below.

2. Grasshopper

Looking to make the perfect New Orleans cocktail, the famous Grasshopper? We tracked down where the Grasshopper was invented in 1918 at Tujague’s, which opened in 1856. It’s the second oldest restaurant in the French Quarter of New Orleans. At the time of our visit a Grasshopper cost $13 US. It’s a perfect combination of a minty crème de menthe liqueur, chocolate liqueur/crème de cacao, brandy and cream.

Bartender Anthony showed us how a Grasshopper cocktail is made at Tujague’s, located at 429 Decatur Street.

Bartender Anthony shows us how a Grasshopper cocktail is made. Photo: Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

3. Hurricane

This sweet red-hued drink, served in a hurricane-lamp shaped glass, has to be the most popular cocktail in the French Quarter. This signature cocktail originated at the very popular Irish bar, Pat O’Brien’s.

The Hurricane is traditionally made traditionally with 4 oz. of amber rum or equal parts of dark and light rum, 2 oz. of lemon juice, passion fruit juice and ice, and is traditionally garnished with a slice of orange and a cherry.

Pat O’Brien’s is located at 624 Bourbon Street.

Traditional Hurricane Recipe

• 2 oz. light rum
• 2 oz. dark rum
• 2 oz. passion fruit juice
• 1 oz. orange juice
• ½ oz. fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon simple syrup
• 1 tablespoon grenadine
• Garnish: orange slice and cherry

Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a hurricane glass filled with ice. Garnish with a cheery and an orange slice.

Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane Recipe

• 4 oz. of Pat O’Brien’s Rum or any good dark rum
• 4 oz. Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane Mix*
• Garnish: orange slice and cherry

Mix ingredients and pour into 26 oz. glass with crushed ice. Garnish with a slice of orange and a cherry.

*Mix is sold at the bar, online at patobriens.com and at numerous locations around New Orleans.

The famous Hurricane cocktail in a Hurricane glass.

4. Vieux Carré

The Vieux Carré cocktail first appeared in New Orleans in 1938. Invented at the four-star luxury Hotel Monteleone in what is now the famous Carousel Bar.

Carousel Bar & Lounge

Visitors to New Orleans have to make a point of visiting the Carousel Bar & Lounge, which opened inside the historic Hotel Monteleone on Sept. 3, 1949. (While you’re at it, check out the crystal chandeliers adorning the lobby of this grand dame property.) This is just one of the iconic places in the French Quarter to try famous New Orleans cocktails.

The bar includes 25 vintage, circus-themed painted seats surrounding a colorful marquis, which revolves around world-class bartenders creating world-class cocktails, once every 15 minutes. While to this day, the bar remains a haunt for celebrities, famous authors and playwrights such as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote were also once regulars.

We managed to snag a seat at the revolving bar and ordered the Carousel’s signature cocktail, Vieux Carre, a mix of Sazerac rye whiskey, Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac, sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Angostura and Peychaud Bitters. Similar to a Manhattan, the Vieux Carré differs mainly with the addition of Cognac and at the time of we visited cost $21 US.

New Orleans’ one and only revolving bar, the Carousel Bar and Lounge is still spinning after 70 years and, as we sipped our cocktails, it was easy to imagine Ernest Hemingway sauntering up to the bar and ordering his “usual.”

Hotel Monteleone is located at 214 Royal Street.

The Vieux Carré cocktail served to us at the Carousel Bar. Photo: Sandra Thomas©

5. Ramos Gin Fizz

The famous milky Ramos Gin Fizz was crafted in 1888 by Henry Ramos, the bar owner at the Meyer’s Table D’Hotel Internationale. When Ramos moved to the Imperial Cabinet Saloon one Carnival season, he needed to employ dozens of shakers to keep up with the demand of this popular libation.

After Prohibition, Ramos sold the rights to his Gin Fizz recipe to the luxurious Roosevelt New Orleans, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel, where you can still enjoy it today, along with other timeless cocktails in their legendary Fountain Lounge or Sazerac Bar.

The Roosevelt is located at 130 Roosevelt Way.

6. Pimm’s Cup

The British gin-based cocktail was not invented in the Crescent City, but Napoleon House introduced Pimm’s Cup to America in 1914 and added their own distinct twist. This cool refreshing drink eventually became the choice for many on long hot days.

The Signature Napoleon House Pimm’s Cup cocktail is made from Pimm’s Cup No. 1 liqueur, fresh lemon juice, and a splash of 7-up. In London, it is made with ginger ale and fresh cucumber. Other lounges, like the Carousel Bar, add their own twist to it and make it with strawberries, cucumber, lemon juice, simple syrup and Sprite

Today, patrons can order the original Signature Pimm’s Cup or try a three varieties of Pimm’s Cup with a flight. While there check out Napoleon House Signature Muffuletta sandwich.

Napoleon House is located at 500 Chartres Street in the French Quarter.

The Signature Napoleon House Pimm’s Cup cocktail. Photo: Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

7. Brandy Milk Punch

Find this creamy dessert-like cocktail at Commander’s Palace, one of the best restaurants in New Orleans.  It’s made using a combination of brandy, cream, simple syrup, pure vanilla extract and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

The Brandy Milk Punch cocktail can be found at other more casual places as well, but if you plan to go to Commander’s Palace, reservations made months in advance are a must and a dress code is enforced.

Commander’s Palace is located at 1403 Washington Avenue, in the Garden District.

Commander’s Palace Brandy Milk Punch

• 2 ounces brandy
• 1 oz Simple Syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1.5 ounces cream*
• Freshly grated nutmeg, for garnish
• *May substitute with almond milk

Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with a light dusting of freshly grated nutmeg and serve immediately.

8. Café Brûlot

The Café Brûlot is an elaborate flaming concoction made tableside. Created in the 1880s at Antoine’s, the oldest restaurant in New Orleans and oldest family-run restaurant in America, it’s a grand performance. It’s a blending of chicory coffee, cinnamon, Triple Sec and Brandy. The cost is $14 US per guest with a minimum of two.

Of note, Antoine’s is also where Oysters Rockefeller was created.

Like Commander’s Palace, reservations need to be made in advance, unless you’re lucky and catch a cancellation at the last minute. Dress is business casual, suggested jacket and collared shirt and no flip flops, baseball caps or athletic clothing.

Antoine’s is located at 713 St. Louis Street.

9. Absinthe Frappé

Bartender Cayetanno Ferrer created the Absinthe Frappé at the Old Absinthe House in 1874.

Over the decades, many renowned creative people became fans of absinthe and it’s potent side effects, including, Ernest Hemmingway, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Did you know absinthe was once banned in America between 1912 and 2007? Why? As reported by a Science History Institute Museum and Library article, the U.S. Pure Food Board imposed the ban, calling absinthe “one of the worst enemies of man, and if we can keep the people of the United States from becoming slaves to this demon, we will do it.” By 1915, the Green Fairy (la fée verte, as the absintheurs called it) had been exiled even from France.

The ban was lifted after a group lead by Ted Breaux, a native New Orleans research scientist who studies 19th century botanical medicine,  proved the claims untrue.

The Old Absinthe House located at 240 Bourbon Street, serves many of New Orleans’ signature cocktails.

10. Voodoo Daiquiri

The Voodoo Daiquiri is a grape-flavored slushy drink also known as the Purple Dank.  The recipe is secret, but is thought to include Everclear 190, bourbon, and a grape flavoring. Find this drink at the historic Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop housed in a building built in the late 1720s, reputed to be the oldest structure used as a bar in the United States.

Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop is located at 941 Bourbon Street, New Orleans.

11. Brandy Crusta

The Brandy Crusta, created by bartender Joseph Santini at his bar Jewel of the South, is a cocktail named for the crust of sugar on the rim and is made with Remy 1738 Cognac, Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao, Lemon, Luxardo Maraschino and Angostura Bitters.

Today the tavern currently holds the title of being one of the world’s best 50 bars. The Jewel of the South is located at 1026 Saint St. Louis Street.

A Brandy Crusta was made for us on Doctor Gumbo combined cocktail and food history tour. Photo: Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

12. Abita Amber

Abrita Amber is not a cocktail, but if you are interested in trying a local craft brew, this is the one to sample and a favorite in New Orleans.

We were served the Abita Amber at the New Orleans School of Cooking as a pairing with our food during an entertaining cooking demonstration.

Abita Amber served at the New Orleans School of Cooking. Photo: Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

Sazerac House Tour

Speaking of liquor and cocktails, a tour of Sazerac House is a must while visiting New Orleans. And, while all ages are welcome to tour, it’s only guests 21 and older who can take part in the tastings, which, of course, we did.

Sazerac House is important historically because it was there in 1832, when young pharmacist Antoine Amédée Peychaud first began combining his bitters with his favorite imported French brandy — Sazerac-de-Forge et fils — and the original Sazerac Cocktail was born. Today, classic Sazerac is mixed with rye whiskey, due to a historic shortage of the imported brandy.

According to Sazerac House, it was then American cocktail culture was born, and with it, the historical importance of the French Quarter as “an incubator and celebrator of all things alcohol.”

Bitters inside Sazerac House. Photo: Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

The Sazerac House in New Orleans offers tastings on the self guided tour. Photo: Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

How to taste whiskey

Jim, one of the demonstrators, tells about how whiskey should be sipped and savored, not shot.

He suggests to savor the first sip on your tongue for seven seconds before you swallow. That seven seconds gives your mouth time to generate enough saliva to properly coat the palate and to train the brain to be sensitive to the flavors. Once you’ve properly conditioned your taste buds, you’re going to start tasting the effects of the white oak barrels they age the whiskey in. Finally, the whiskey will release flavors of caramel, toffee and vanilla.

Jim explains, “If you have friends who like to shoot whiskey, get new friends or buy them vodka because we make vodka at noon and consolidate at 4 p.m. Our whiskey takes at least seven or eight years and sometimes 23 years to make. One of our distillers will probably only get two chances to test how good their 23-year-old batch is because 23 times two is 46 and that’s more than most people work in their lifetime.”

We learned that when a 23-year-old barrel of whiskey is tapped, they are lucky if 75 percent of the whiskey is left and sometimes the barrel is completely empty.

Jim at Sazerac House explained to us how to taste fine whiskey. Photo: Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

What’s a Whiskey Smash?

If you haven’t heard of a Whiskey Smash, it’s basically a whiskey sour, taken up a notch with a little bit with some fresh mint. It also includes  Sazerac rye whiskey, fresh lemon juice and a mint simple syrup. It’s now one of our favorite cocktails.

How to make a Sazerac Whiskey Smash. Photo: Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

Distilling whiskey at Sazerac House

When they start distilling whiskey at Sazerac House, it takes five days to ferment the grains to about 10% alcohol, at which point it is transferred over to a still. The first distillation comes off at about 30% alcohol. Once the 100 gallon vessel is filled, there is a second distillation. At the end of this stage, the whiskey is about 135 proof and about 76.5 percent alcohol. It’s then put into barrels at 125 proof to age.

These barrels are sent to their Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky to age in the barrel house for about six years before it’s put into bottles.

Buffalo Trace manufactures a lot of different whiskies — from rye whiskey to bourbons and all age differently. They pull out the barrels when needed.

Distilling whiskey at Sazerac House. Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

New Orleans Food and Cocktail Tour in the French Quarter

Taking a food and cocktail tour has to be one of the best ways to try some of the famous foods and legendary drinks of New Orleans and learn about the history and the culture behind them, so we went on the Doctor Gumbo combined cocktail and food history tour. This entertaining tour made six stops at award-winning seafood restaurants, James Beard Award-nominated craft cocktail lounges, iconic Creole restaurants and an artisanal candy store, where we picked up pralines.

We tried four full-sized cocktails, including a rum-filled Hurricane, a Pimm’s Cup and the French 75. We also tried nine “bites,” that were actually pretty large portions, of different dishes. We tried classic dishes like gumbo, muffulettas and other culinary delights.

The muffaletta originated in New Orleans, purportedly at Central Grocery, where it is still made today. The Sicilian-inspired sandwich is made with Italian charcuterie and a spicy Creole olive salad. Here’s a recipe from New Orleans celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse for you to try.

This entertaining four-hour tour started on Bourbon Street at Ralph Brennan’s Red Fish Grill. We can’t recommend this tour enough. We had a lot of laughs, just enough cocktails, too much to eat, and learned some really interesting and sometimes scandalous stories about New Orleans.

A Brandy Crusta and a variety of other signature cocktails made for us on Doctor Gumbo combined cocktail and food history tour. Photo: Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

Doctor Gumbo combined cocktail and food history tour. Photo: Wendy Nordvik-Carr©

Where to stay in New Orleans

There are lots of cool, historic and charming boutique hotels throughout the French Quarter and in other neighborhoods adjacent to this area. When touring the French Quarter, bar and lounge areas are usually worthy of visit.

We stayed five nights in the city and tried two very different types of accommodations.

Bienville House Hotel in the French Quarter, offers the true Old-World elegance of a charming inn. We had heard a lot about this manor-style hotel, so walking up to the front door and taking in its architecture and ambience, including French windows, wrought-iron balconies with potted plants, sconce lighting, brass plaques and waving flags set the mood perfectly. Read our review of Bienville House.

Virgin Hotels New Orleans turned out to be a real hit with us. When it comes to service, cleanliness, amenities, décor and great vibe, this eclectic boutique hotel nestled in the heart of downtown New Orleans hit all of the right notes for us. We honestly loved this hotel. Read our review of Virgin Hotels New Orleans

For more information and tips on Louisiana, check out our stories here.

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Wendy Nordvik-Carr and Sandra Thomas attended various locations throughout Louisiana as part of a press trip by Explore Louisiana, Visit New Orleans, Visit Lafayette, Visit Lake Charles and Visit Shreveport, which did not review or approve of this article before it was published.

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