From its humble beginnings as a mosquito-infested village surrounded by swamp, New Orleans has had the reputation as a delivery device for the pleasures of music, food, and drink.
And along the way, the mix has been “kicked up a notch”, with a few fun vices added in.
Not on the vice list, but certainly on the party list is jazz. Most music lovers know that Jazz was born in New Orleans, and they can probably name a few native sons and daughters who have gone on to world fame. And frequently, these listeners enjoy their jazz with drink in hand. Which brings me to another pleasure introduced by New Orleans … the cocktail.
In addition to being a pharmacist, Antoine Peychaud was a gracious host. In the 1830s, Masons held lodge meetings in his simple, yet centrally located drug store on Royal Street. The legend says that after the meetings adjourned, Peychaud would whip up a few libations by combining cognac, his own bitters recipe, a drop of water, and a pinch of sugar. He served his tasty concoction in small egg cups called coquetier. As frequently happens with Americans, the pronunciation was mangled, and the “cocktail” was born. Incidentally, Peychaud’s drink is called “The Sazerac”, which is available at just about any bar in the city.
Photo by Rick A. via Wikimedia Commons
via Wikimedia Commons
Actually, there’s a long list of cocktails which allegedly originated in NOLA, including The Hurricane, Ramos Gin Fizz, The Obituary Cocktail, and the Vieux Carré Cocktail. My research turned up an additional drink for the list, but I’m reluctant to include it … the Mint Julep. My Kentucky Brethren would tar and feather me if I stated definitively that this drink didn’t originate within sight of a thoroughbred horse.
And the final float in this New Orleans vice parade is gambling and the dice game craps. According to gonola.com,
“Bernard Marigny de Mandeville is usually thought of as a Creole dandy who brought the dice game Hazard (we now call it “craps”) to North America.”
Photo by Antoine Taveneaux via Wikimedia Commons
As for the name, “craps”, there are a couple of stories, each involving the French word Crapaud, which means frog or toad. One story is that the hunched position required to shoot craps makes the gambler resemble a frog. Another, more humorous version blames the Americans and their gauche nickname for their French compatriots. Either way, it all started in New Orleans.
Good music, lots of booze, and gambling. They don’t call it a party town for nothing.
Happy Trails,
James
It has been years since I’ve been to New Orleans– and your posts bring it all back as if it were yesterday. Many thanks!
It’s a fact, that most people who visit New Orleans are smitten. This was our first post-Katrina visit, and we were happy to see that the recovery is going well. Thanks for your comment.
The mint julep, too?! And here I thought I couldn’t love New Orleans any more.
I’ve never heard of The Obituary or Vieux Carre cocktails… sounds like the beginning of a ‘to do’ list for the next trip down south!
Yeah, you have to love a city which explains the “open container” policy in the tourist brochure (no joke.) As in, just ask the bartender for a “go cup.” I also love the closet-sized bars. You can drink on the street, but can’t buy booze on the street. Therefore, you take one step into the closet, order and pay, then take one step out. NOLA has their priorities straight.
This is VERY MUCH on my must-visit-soon list of American cities. Can’t wait. Thank you for quenching my thirst with this excellent post, meanwhile.
If you can swing a trip in the spring, that would be the best time. I lived in DC and know that it can be humid, but NOLA in summer is not only hot, but the daily PM showers make it incredibly sticky and pretty miserable. With the blooming flowers and lower temps, spring is perfect. Hope you can make it.
That’s the plan–thank you for this advice. It didn’t occur to me that the weather would be quite SO different from DC.
Your photos are always great, but this time I really loved the antique map and engravings. Can’t wait for the parade report!
Thanks for the comment Louise, and for dropping by the blog. I too am a fan of old maps, and particularly liked the map of New Orleans. I lived in Charleston, SC for a while, and I loved going through the map archives to see how the city developed. This would also be an interesting exercise in NOLA.
I also loved the antique map.
And turns out i know none of the cocktails you mentioned here.
Thanks Ioana, for the comment and for dropping by the blog. I’m a map guy, and am a sucker for old ones. Re: the cocktails. You may want to do a little field research on those, just don’t start with “The Obituary” cocktail. LOL
I like also when I travel to old castles. They all(or at least most of them) have such old maps. Really cool.
Might be a bit hard to do a “field research” here. have to check what’s inside them and see if we have these combinations over here (Germany)
and of course….when you say the kid “don’t do that”, what does the kid do?
))) First thing i did was to check the “obituary” one
Ioana, it looks like you’re on the right track in your research. We lived in Berlin for a while, and I can say that my favorite drinks there were all the great beers. I’m sure that there are good German spirits, but for my money, the beer is tops.
Sounds very good! I am sure you had to have tastes some Baverian beer as well.
have you visited Heidelberg while you were here? They have a very nice map of the old city up at the castle
We did visit Heidelberg Ioana, and loved the castle. You’ll love the inspiration for our visit. When Terri was a teenager she entered Science Fairs in school, and they were always held at Heidelberg University in Ohio. So when we were in Berlin, Terri said that we HAD to go to Heidelberg. Too funny!