The Big Easy does it
IT’S enough to drive you to drink. Believe it or not, there’s a New Orleans cocktail called ‘The Hurricane’ that simply blows you away! New Orleans, near the mouth of the mighty Mississippi, was well and truly devastated by Hurricane Katrina 11 years ago. But ‘N’awlins’ – as it’s known by Louisiana folk – dealt with it, moved on, and continued its age-old tradition of serving up its huge variety of spicy foods and, of course, its favourite cocktails.
It’s all there to sip and savour as you go round the city with a certified ‘drinks historian’ who certainly knows her business.
Elizabeth Pearce is a cocktail expert, and very funny with it, too.
She admits she’s been shaken and stirred herself, referring to 2008 – the year she did her drinks research – as “my lost year.”
Elizabeth tells it how it is, as she concocts ‘The Hurricane’ and the equally popular ‘Sazerac’ cocktail that is a staple in the city they call the Big Easy. Necking it is obviously something of a religion here, though not everyone in Louisiana took to drink in the eye of the storm.
Elizabeth reveals: “This state is divided by the I-10 highway that runs east to west. Below it are the Catholic drinkers. Above it are the Baptists, who don’t drink at all... well, at least in public. In truth, we all love to drink here, and yet the official Louisiana state drink is milk. Now isn’t that something?”
Elizabeth is splendidly irreverent, highly amusing and disarmingly forthright.
“I love Mother’s Day because periodically it’s also International Cocktail Day,” she says.
“I learned everything about drink from my mother. When I had what I call ‘my lost year’ she was really proud of me.”
Elizabeth’s main $50 tour – the New Orleans Experience (drinkandlearn.com) – serves up four drinks while you walk around the famous French Quarter, an architectural treat of 18th and 19th-century homes and businesses, with their flowerdecked balconies and wonderful courtyards.
You fire up with a Sazerac – American whiskey, a touch of absinthe, herbs, wormwood and a twist of lemon – and top that up with a Ramos Gin Fizz, a St Charles Hotel Punch, and a Master Lemonadier.
If you opt for the two-hour Cocktail Tour, you visit the Pharmacy Museum – a source of prescribed alcohol during the Prohibition Era; Jackson Square; the St Louis Cathedral; and the Port of New Orleans.
As Elizabeth tells you: “Drink is the lens you look through... it’s the story of New Orleans in a glass. It’s the history lesson you wish you’d had – three centuries in five drinks.”
She describes the era of Prohibition between 1919 and 1933 as ‘The Great Mistake,’ or ‘an exercise in futility.’ In the Big Easy, it was always going to be a non-starter.
So what about the food offering in multi-cultural New Orleans, a place where the culinary delights reflect that heady mixture of French, Spanish, Creole, Caribbean, African-American and Anglo-American influences that successive waves of incoming people put into the cooking pot – or should that be melting pot? With its Catholic tastes, the Cajun Holy Trinity’ – onions, celery and bell pepper – gives this vibrant city a real ‘scents of place.’ Yes, they love their ‘funnies’ here. The popular and likeable C City Mayor Steve P Perry is spot on wh when he tells you: “Th “This is the most se sensory city in Am America, visually, tast taste-wise and cult culturally. “W “We are not corp corporate America; we are different; we are unique. Variety is our spice of life. “Not only have we recovered from Ka Katrina, but we ha have strengthened and become a muc much better city than before. We are a happy people and we live life to the full.”
The choice of restaurants is astounding, with twice as many since Katrina struck in August 2005.
Nobody comes to New Orleans for the big-chain joints. And OK, the Deep South habit of frying everything that moves is evident, as is the ‘comfort food’ tradition that is rooted in all hard-time communities.
But it’s spiced up and tasty, and it doesn’t have to be a heart attack waiting to happen. There’s fruit, veg and seafood galore and a huge variety of creative cooking.
It’s worth taking in the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (southernfood.org), which Elizabeth helped mastermind, and which showcases the story of local produce in Louisiana and the other Southern states.
There’s also the American Cocktail Museum (cocktailmuseum.org) for a traditional top-up.
In contrast, my flight across the Atlantic was state-of-the art, on board an American Airlines super-swish Dreamliner. And yes, they too serve excellent drinks.