Last Call

Mixing for the masses
Let us say you’re one of New Orleans’ most talented and respected mixologists. Let us also say there’s a celebration in your town each year where the rule “anything goes” is in effect, giving you free rein to create any beverage concoction known to man or woman.

Lucky you; and lucky Chris Hannah, the incredibly dedicated keeper of the bar at Arnaud’s Restaurant watering hole French 75.

Every Mardi Gras Hannah dons his formal serving duds, sets a tiki-appropriate chapeau upon his head and wades into the spectacle that is the “Greatest Free Show on Earth” with a wagon and a five-gallon jug of something special. That has been the routine for more than six years.

It is working, because wherever Hannah is, there are smiling faces and happy acolytes. Well, we think some of it’s due to Hannah. Could be that Mardi Gras has a little effect on the joy in the streets when New Orleans throws her grandest party.

If you can’t find Hannah in the crowd, make your own large serving portion of Nui Nui Punch and share it with friends and complete strangers alike.

Nui Nui Punch
(Mix into a 5 gallon tub in no special order)
1 1/4 gallon orange juice (160 ounces)
3/4 gallon limejuice (90 ounces)
60 ounces Cinnamon infused simple syrup
40 ounces Allspice Dram
120 ounces Virgin Islands Rum
1 bottle Angostora Bitters
*the dilution of the ice in the 5 gallon bucket is both proper and needed for it to be 5 gallons of cocktail.

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