Mardi Gras Cocktails
Mardi Gras, also known as Carnival, is a holiday and cultural phenomenon that dates back thousands of years to the pagan equinox. It’s a big festival on the day before the religious season of Lent begins. It’s celebrated in many countries around the world—mainly those with large Roman Catholic populations including Brazil, Venice, and New Orleans. There are parades, dancing, colourful costumes and of course – lots of drinking! To help celebrate this wonderful holiday, we’ve put together a list of delicious cocktails traditionally drunk during the festivities!
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1) Sazerac
The official cocktail of the city of New Orleans!
Ingredients: 2 tsp absinthe
1 tsp Monin Sugar Cane syrup
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters
ice
4 strips of orange zest
Equipment: Mixing glass, cocktail spoon
Method:
Step 1
Take a tumbler and pour in the absinthe. Swirl around to coat the inside of the glass then discard.
Step 2
Pour the sugarcane syrup, both types of bitters and whiskey into a large mixing glass or jug. Add 25ml cold water and a good handful of ice. Stir until the outside of the jug feels really cold. Taste – if it’s too sweet or strong, keep stirring to dilute it further.
Step 3
Strain into your prepared glass. Twist a piece of orange zest over a glass to release a little of the citrus oils, then drop it in and enjoy.
Watch our video on how to make it here!
2) La Lousiana Cocktail
The A La Louisiane (sometimes called De La Louisiane) is the former house drink of historic New Orleans restaurant La Louisiane, which was built in 1881.
Ingredients
22.5 ml Bulleit rye whiskey
22.5 ml Noilly Prat Ambre
22.5 ml Benedictine
3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
La Fee Parisian Absinthe rinse
Garnish: 3 cherries on a pick
Equipment: Collinson Spoon
Method
Wash the glass with a little absinthe then discard the liquid. Stir rye, sweet vermouth, Benedictine and Peychaud’s bitters in a mixing glass with ice until cold. Strain and serve in a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with Maraschino cherries on a pick.
Check out our video how to make it!
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3) Old Fashioned
The original cocktail which has been around since the early 19th century!
Ingredients
2 tsp Monin sugar syrup or 1 tsp granulated sugar
1-2 dashes Angostura bitters
splash of water
30ml Woodford Reserve
soda water (optional)
orange slice
maraschino cherry (optional)
Method:
Put the sugar, bitters and water in a small tumbler. Mix until the sugar dissolves if using granulated. Fill your glass with ice and stir in the whisky. Add a splash of soda water if you like and mix. Garnish with the orange and cherry.
4) Drunk Grasshopper
Grasshoppers have been served at Tujague's in the French Quarter of New Orleans since 1919!
Ingredients:
ice
25ml Gabriel Boudier Creme de Menthe Green
25ml Coole Swan
25ml single cream
To garnish
Chocolate Shavings
Equipment: Cocktail Shaker
Method: Step 1
Start by making the garnish. Take a sprig of mint, strip off the leaves at the base and dip the stalk in the melted chocolate, holding the upper leaves gently. Leave to set on a plate or tray.
Step 2
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice then pour in the liqueurs and cream. Shake hard until the outside of the cocktail shaker is cold, then strain into a cocktail glass or small coupe. Garnish with the chocolate-dipped sprig of mint.
5) Mint Julip
A Southern Classic for the last hundred years!
Ingredients:
35ml Knob Creek Bourbon
10 mint leaves
12.5ml Monin Sugar Cane Syrup
ice , cubes and crushed
For the garnish
a big mint sprig and a straw
Equipment: Mezclar St/steel Julep Cup, Julep Strainer or buy the cocktail bundle.
Method: Shake the bourbon, mint leaves and sugar syrup with ice and strain into a highball glass or julep tin filled with crushed ice. Churn gently with a long-handled spoon and top with more crushed ice. Garnish and serve.
6) Vieux Carré
Created in New Orleans in the 1930s by Walter Bergeron, a bartender at New Orleans’ legendary Carousel Bar inside the Hotel Monteleone.
Ingredients:
20 ml Powers Rye whiskey
20 ml Dolin Chambery Vermouth Rouge
I bar spoon Bénédictine
2 Dash Peychaud’s bitters
2 Dash Angostura bitters
Method:
Pour the rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, Bénédictine and bitters to a rocks glass.
Fill with ice and stir. Garnish with a lemon zest.
7) Hurricane
Originated in 1941 in Pat O’Brien’s bar in New Orleans!
Ingredients:
25ml Plantation Original Dark Rum
45ml Bacardi white rum
15ml orange juice
15ml Mixer Lemon Juice
2 tsp Monin Grenadine
8) Brandy Crusta
The Brandy Crusta was invented in the 1850s by Joseph Santini, an Italian bartender plying his trade in New Orleans. The original recipe skewed tart, so Chris Hannah of Arnaud's French 75 Bar, the first bartender to bring the drink back to its home city in 2004.
Ingredients:
50ml Hennessy VS Cognac
10ml Gabriel Boudier Curacao Triple Sec Curaçao or Teichenne Triple Sec Licor
7.5ml Luxardo Cherry Sangue Morlacco
15ml Mixer Lemon Juice
Dash Angostura Bitters
Lemon, to peel
Sugar, for garnish
Equipment: Cocktail Set
Method:
Step 1
Chill the glass with ice. Take a lemon, and slowly remove the entire peel in one slice. Carefully pare the slice (use a knife to remove the pith on the inside, leaving just the skin of the fruit).
Step 2
Take the Cognac, Triple Sec, Cherry Liqueur, Lemon Juice, and Sugarcane Syrup and add to a cocktail shaker with ice.
Step 3
Add 1-2 dashes of Angostura Bitters. Shake well until the shaker is cold. Remove the ice from the glass and line the lemon peel around the inside of the glass. Use a hawthorn strainer to strain the mix into the chilled glass.
We hope you enjoyed our blog post and have a fabulous Mardi Gras! All our cocktail equipment and accessories are available here. Be sure to browse our amazing range of wine, champagne, liqueur, gin, and whiskey.
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