Given the French Quarter's endless parade of clear, plastic cups filled with Abita Amber or other, more whimsically hued libations, most New Orleans visitors have probably wondered: Why are people allowed to drink alcohol on city sidewalks and streets?
According to Candy Kagan, a guide with New Orleans Culinary History Tours, the city's open-container laws weren't the result of backroom legal wrangling but more likely the outcome of omission: "Nobody ever said you couldn't drink on the street." It was just one of many insights I gleaned during my recent Classic Drinks Tour led by Kagan.
New Orleans Culinary History Tours limits its groups to a maximum of 12 guests; I tagged along with three couples from Texas and a couple from Massachusetts, which proved to be a manageable number to navigate the French Quarter's streets.
We started at Tujague's, said to be the birthplace of the grasshopper (creme de menthe, creme de cacao and fresh cream). The minty-sweet concoction in a festive shade of green proved a good way to ease the group into the harder stuff, though at least one guest intoned, "You can really feel them, can't you?"
Thankfully, with four stops in two hours, there was ample time until the next round of drinks. After Tujague's we visited Muriel's Jackson Square, where we sampled the Ramos gin fizz (gin, egg white, orange flower water, lemon juice, simple syrup, half-and-half and soda water), which was a favorite of infamous Louisiana politician Huey Long.
A Sazerac cocktail at the Hermes Bar at Antoine’s. Photo Credit: Eric Moya
We also checked out the restaurant's Seance Lounge. Legend has it that in 1814, Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan, who built Muriel's as his dream home, lost the house in a poker game and was so distraught that he killed himself on the second floor, where the lounge is located.
Our visit to the Hermes Bar at Antoine's featured a suitably iconic New Orleans beverage: the Sazerac cocktail, containing its namesake rye whiskey, bitters, an absinthe-rinsed glass and a lemon twist. We toured the restaurant's private dining rooms, which displayed costumes and memorabilia of Mardi Gras krewes from decades past.
Our last stop, Arnaud's, included a sampling of the French 75 (Courvoisier, sugar, lemon juice and Champagne) and souffle potatoes (puffy french fries). While a bite to eat might have been wiser at the start of the tour, everyone seemed to emerge fairly sober and a lot more knowledgeable about some of the Big Easy's best-known beverages.
The Classic Drinks Tour is priced at $60 per person. For more on New Orleans Culinary History Tours, visit http://noculinarytours.com.