Description: Enclosed within the Southern Food and Beverage Museum is the Museum of the American Cocktail, which opened shortly after SoFAB debuted. Exhibits include antique bartending tools and equipment, decorative bar glasses dating back many years, old drink menus, posters, and other paraphernalia related to mixed drinks and the colorful history behind them.
New Orleans is widely recognized as "The Birthplace of the Cocktail." The term’s origin dates back to around the turn of the 19th century when a French-born pharmacist named Antoine Peychaud concocted a drink recipe from stomach bitters and French brandy originally intended to be a medicine. The popularity of the Sazerac, as it was called, caught on and soon it was being consumed as an alcoholic beverage. Because Peychaud originally served the drink in egg cups – coquetiers (pronounced koh-kuh-TYAYS) in French – a slurred pronunciation came out like "cocktail." The Museum of the American Cocktail pays tribute to these origins.
Since its opening, the Museum of the American Cocktail has hosted special events such as new cocktail samplings and seminars conducted by world-renowned mixologists. Each year, during the annual Tales of the Cocktail event in July, the museum is expected to be a focal point for related events.
SoFAB and the Cocktail Museum are very convenient for visitors who lodge nearby, being walking distance from both the French Quarter and the downtown and Warehouse District hotels. There is also plenty of parking in the Riverwalk parking lot between the Hilton Hotel and the Morial Convention Center. |
