The other night, I had an opportunity to visit the Sazerac House Museum with a private event. The Sazerac House is one of the free museums in New Orleans, and it offers a cocktail tasting with your tour.

The exhibit goes through the history of cocktails in New Orleans, from treatments for disease in pharmacies through Prohibition, including a shrine to Antoine Peychaud. Louisiana was the first place to license pharmacists in the country. The laws were the result of both trying to regulate folk medicine and treat the rampant disease.

During Prohibition, around 5,000 defiant businesses continued serving alcohol, according to the museum. New Orleanians also tried to classify alcohol as a food to get around the regulations of the 18th Amendment. “Hidden shops and bars called speakeasies flourished. Rum-runners used the busy port to transport liquor from the Caribbean,” an exhibit in the museum.

Tourists commonly ask about speakeasies that still exist in New Orleans to this day. We don’t really hide the drinking anymore. In fact, New Orleanians take pride in the fact that we can legally drink on the street. However, there are a few speakeasy type bars around to satisfy the need for secrecy. Reach out for more.

I found the information about coffee houses or exchanges very interesting. According to the museum, by 1852, there were 859 coffee houses in New Orleans where businessmen drank and did business. Cafe du Monde claims an 1862 opening year, but we certainly had coffee shops in New Orleans well before that. (Once someone pointed out that the Battle ofNew Orleans during the Civil War occurred in 1862, I have firmly doubted this claim.)

The exhibit is very well done with multiple stories. If you’re interested in a less serious visit to a museum that still provides valuable knowledge (albeit under an obvious branded long form advertisement for the liquor company) and interactive experiences, the Sazerac House Museum is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. In the meantime, check out my video about the Origin of the Cocktail below.