The Spirit World

Calling New Orleans a good place to hold a cocktail convention is a little like suggesting that the folks who make slot machine might want to meet up in Vegas. Can you say “duh?”

Here in the Big Easy, where go cups on Bourbon Street, and festive dining everywhere are  the rule, the sixth annual Tales of the Cocktail, a whirlwind of seminars, book signings, broadcasts, dinners, and, oh yes, cocktail parties, got under way on July 16. Professional and hobbyist mixologists from around the world come here to learn, to sample, and, from the looks of things, to meet a lot of old friends. Seminar topics range from spirit tasting techniques, to fostering aroma in cocktails, to creating tasty bar snacks, to molecular mixology.

Tales founders were also able to celebrate a legislative victory this year, winning a battle with state legislators to have the sazerac declared New Orleans’ official cocktail. On July 16, Tales attendees toasted the news with delicious samples of the legendary drink. I raised my glass too, then raised another in the Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleon, just to make sure I had all the fats.

Promoters call the sazerac “history in a glass” for its combination of historical origins, and New Orleans-tied ingredients. The drink, made today with rye whiskey sugar, absinthe (or herbsaint), and Paychoud’s bitters, was invented by Antoine Amedee Peychaud, a 19th-century New Orleans apothecary, and refugee from slave rebellions in what is now Haiti.  Paychoud combined bitters of his own invention with French brandy made by Sazerac des Forge, and a bit of Louisiana cane sugar. Add the fact that absinthe is now sold legally in the US, and you have the ingredients for a sazerac renaissance.

I’ll be bringing you more reports from Tales of the Cocktail, which ended last Sunday.