The Bayou Bar at The Pontchartrain Hotel is offering two new fall cocktails that will make you feel all cozy inside. The “Duck Fat Sazerac” features smoked duck fat Sazerac rye, bitters, Herbsaint and sugar. We all know that duck fat takes French fries to the next level, but it turns out the same can be said for cocktails. Meanwhile, the “Bubbles & Butter” features brown butter bourbon, sugar, citrus, Cardamaro and sparkling wine. Also located at the Pontchartrain Hotel, Jack Rose is offering “Yamz A Make Her Dance” —a cocktail made with Cognac, lemon juice, honey syrup, Amaro, sweet potato puree and sparkling wine.
Urban South Brewery recently released a new Drip fruited coffee sour taproom series featuring Hey Coffee. The first release in August combined guava, strawberry and blueberry with cold-brew, medium-roast coffee full of raspberry and honey flavors. In September, Urban South released Drip with mango and peach. The brewery also has released some super-fruited sours pioneered at its Houston facility, dubbed "Spilled." They come in three fruited levels: single, double, and triple, and they contain any variation of fruit (and sometimes candy) that you can imagine. All are available for pick-up at the New Orleans taproom.
The Sazerac House is offering fun and informative virtual cocktail tastings. Simply sign up for a class, pick up the curbside kit and then hop online to learn how to craft classic cocktails, discover stories behind the spirits and gain knowledge from experts. Upcoming classes include “Cheers to Cheese” on Oct. 20 and “Drink & Learn: Cocktails in New Orleans’ Grand Hotels” on Oct. 22. Classes start at 5 p.m., and kits can be picked up curbside from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on the day of the workshop. Ten percent of proceeds benefit the Louisiana Hospitality Foundation.
LeBLANC + Smith restaurants, CAVAN and Longway Tavern, recently introduced happy hours taking place Wednesday through Sunday with food and drink specials. CAVAN’s happy hour runs 4-6 p.m., while Longway Tavern is offering a daytime happy hour (11 a.m.-3 p.m.) and an evening happy hour (4-6 p.m.).
“Optimistic Cocktails: Reimagined Food Waste & Recipes for Resilience” ($15) is a new digital cocktail book released this spring. Claire Sprouse, whose Brooklyn-based Hunky Dory bar and cafe closed due to the pandemic quarantine, invited bartenders across the U.S. to submit recipes that reimagine food waste into crafty cocktails. Jewel of the South's Maggie Morgan contributed her “Rule of Thirds” cocktail, made with tequila or gin, a dash of celery bitters and a savory syrup made from onion and bell pepper scraps. One hundred percent of proceeds support employee staff funds and undocumented workers’ relief funds across the U.S.
