4 NOLA-Inspired Cocktails for Your 'Brothers Take New Orleans' Watch Party
Get a taste of the Big Easy wherever you're watching the Scott brothers' latest HGTV challenge.
Between strolls through the French Quarter, deep dives in antique shops and artists’ markets, and — oh, right — floor-to-ceiling renovations of shotgun houses, Jonathan and Drew have earned themselves a drink or two in the Big Easy. It’s no accident that tonight’s episode of Brothers Take New Orleans wraps up over drinks at a jazz club. Here’s what the Crescent City looks like in a glass — and how you can taste a bit of New Orleans wherever you are.
Bayou Bash
The Court of Two Sisters
Ingredients
Southern Comfort
fruit juice
red wine
orange slice, for garnish
cherry, for garnish
At The Court of Two Sisters in New Orleans — home to the second French royal governor of Louisiana in 1726 and the site of Drew's triumph over Jonathan in their head-to-head kitchen challenge — courtyard guests relax with the Bayou Bash. This concoction features a traditional punch made with Southern Comfort (created in New Orleans in 1874) and fruit juice, then topped with red wine. Served over ice with an orange slice and a cherry, it makes a strong case for improving your next batch of sangria with a bit of smooth New Orleans liqueur.
Vieux Carre
Hotel Monteleone
Ingredients
Benedictine liqueur
rye whiskey
cognac
sweet vermouth
Peychaud's bitters
Angostura bitters
lemon twist, for garnish
Head bartender Water Bergeron created the Vieux Carre ("Old Square," another name for the French Quarter) at New Orleans' Hotel Monteleone in the late '30s. With rye, cognac, sweet vermouth, Benedictine and Angostura and Peychaud's bitters, it's the perfect order at the hotel’s historic Carousel Bar & Lounge. Want a nip of Old New Orleans and can’t make it to the French Quarter? Take a spin with the recipe (and hold on tight if you find yourself on a carousel afterward).
Sazerac
Arnaud's French 75
Ingredients
rye whiskey
simple syrup
Peychaud's bitters
Angostura bitters
Herbsaint or Pernod liqueur
lemon twist, for garnish
As the Louisiana state legislature ruled in 2008, the Sazerac is the official cocktail of New Orleans. Arnaud's French 75 — originally a "gentlemen-only" part of Arnaud's Restaurant, a French Quarter institution established nearly a century ago — suggests Old Overholt rye whiskey if you’d like to follow their recipe. Think of the Sazerac as the Vieux Carre's devilish great-grandfather, with some of the same notes and a hint of Herbsaint. It’s also America’s very first cocktail. (Antoine Peychaud invented it in the French Quarter in 1838.)
Chicago Bonus: Winter on the Equator
Presidio
Ingredients
cold brew coffee
coffee-infused vodka
rum
sweetened condensed milk
Bittercube Blackstrap bitters
cayenne pepper, for garnish
If you’re dreaming of a NOLA-classic Coffee and Chicory at Café Du Monde and happen to be in Chicago, head for Presidio where bartender Sam Lyden mixes up Winter on the Equator, possibly the greatest coffee shake of all time. He combines cold-brew coffee with chicory-and-coffee-bean-infused vodka, rum, sweetened condensed milk and Bittercube Blackstrap bitters, then strains and garnishes with cayenne.
"It’s not difficult to infuse vodka with chicory," Sam says. "You simply add two or three tablespoons of chicory tea to a standard 750-millileter bottle of vodka. Let this sit overnight, shaking it a couple of times, then strain through a fine tea strainer the next day.”
Chicory-infused spirits have all sorts of applications: “When using chicory in cocktails, infuse a booze of your choice or infuse a simple syrup the same way," Sam says. "Then follow your favorite drink recipes with your new chicory-infused booze for a different dimension of flavor.” Sam, you’ve all but planned our holiday-season home bartending for us.
Behind the Scenes With the Brothers in the Big Easy
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Don't miss tonight's all-new Brothers Take New Orleans at 9|8c when Drew and Jonathan tackle their biggest shotgun challenge yet: two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
