Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans are famous for their freewheeling party atmosphere, and the city’s distinctive cocktails are a major contributor to the festivities. Some of these drinks can still be found in the establishments where they originated, but even if you can’t make it to New Orleans for the holiday, there are plenty of recipes available for trying your own hand at making them yourself.
Hurricane
One of the most famous New Orleans cocktails, the Hurricane originated at Pat O’Brien’s and is still the bar’s signature item today. It has its origins in a surplus of rum O’Brien was forced to purchase in order to obtain whiskey from his distributors, and is named for its hurricane lamp-shaped glass.
Pat O’Brien’s sells a Hurricane Mix for making the drink at home, and naturally recommends its own brand of rum. There are numerous recipes for the Hurricane online as well, which use passion fruit juice or passion fruit flavored syrup along with either lime juice or orange juice.
Cocktail Times gives a recipe for a variant called the Lime Hurricane, using Southern Comfort rum along with lime juice, sweet and sour mix, and blue curacao.
Sazerac
Named for the Sazerac House, the origins of this cocktail are disputed. It’s attributed both to the establishment’s owner, Aaron Bird, and local apothecary Antoine Amadie Peychaud. What isn’t in dispute is that Peychaud’s bitters were one of the key ingredients in the original recipe.
The Sazerac originally combined those bitters with cognac and absinthe. Later, the recipe was changed to substitute rye whiskey for cognac. When absinthe was banned, Pernod, Herbsaint, and Absente were used as substitutes.
The Louisiana State Legislature voted in 2008 to make the Sazerac the official cocktail of New Orleans, so it’s an obvious choice for Mardi Gras. While it can be found in bars throughout the city, the logical place to try it is the Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel, though food blog Capital Spice’s survey of the city’s Sazerac offerings gives top marks to the French 75 Bar at Arnaud’s.
As far as making the drink at home, the Sazerac Company has an official recipe on its web site, recommending its own rye whiskey as the base and Herbsaint as the absinthe substitute. Colleen Graham’s recipe on About.com is a generic version that doesn’t recommend any specific brand-name ingredients.
New Orleans Fizz
This version of the gin fizz cocktail dates to 1888 and was created by Henry C. Ramos, proprietor of the Imperial Cabinet Saloon at Meyer’s Restaurant. It’s sometimes called a Ramos Gin Fizz in his honor.
Ramos’ most important additions to the traditional gin fizz recipe were egg whites and orange flower water, which combine to give the drink a distinctive texture and flavor. The recipe also incorporates lemon and lime juice, club soda, and cream.
The Sazerac Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel has a long historical association with the New Orleans Fizz as well; its website notes that Louisiana governor Huey Long used to order it there regularly. Commander’s Palace also touts the drink as one of its classic cocktail offerings.
For online recipes, Fabulous Foods offers a version by Stephen Willey, owner of the National Hotel in Jamestown, California. His recipe adds a pinch of nutmeg to the usual ingredients.
Paul Brown - Paul Ferrell Brown graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1994 with a B.A. in English literature, and completed his M.A. in ...
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