I was recently asked to update the New Orleans bar selection for Condé Nast Traveler. Here's the list BUT before you send me an angry email or curse my ignorance on social media, let me give you some context. The list (aimed squarely at visitors, not locals) has been updated several times, and it has to cover a range of neighborhoods, styles and old/new places. Some places would be on the list but they were included in previous years, and there also has to be an element of renewal. I'm not saying your favourite bar isn't great - I probably agree with you. This is just one list, with a ton of moving parts in the selection. I'll gladly buy you a beer in your go-to drinking hole while you tell me what an idiot I am. OK. Here are some cool places to drink, among many cool places in town (PO):
The Dew Drop Inn
Fans of vintage New Orleans jazz are already making a pilgrimage to this near-scared spot. A version of this bar has been here since the mid 1940s, a place that quickly gained a reputation for good times, and known widely as ‘the city’s swankiest nightclub’. It was a hub for the Black community, and legends such as Ray Charles, Irma Thomas, and Fats Domino were known patrons. After falling into disrepair by the 2010s, the bar was saved by the Louisiana Landmark Society and lovingly restored to its former glory, reopening in March 2024. There are two bars, one at the pool club and one in the main room, which also functions as 400-person music venue. The cocktail selection is surprisingly good, not to mention affordable, with the bar making their own specials. They’re largely variations on the classics, but are given a local twist. There’s a lemon drop Martini called the Dew Drop, for example, which is made with a sweet peach liqueur.
Hot Tin
As the elevator doors open onto the rooftop of the Pontchartrain Hotel, two things hit you almost immediately: the buzz of conversation and the eclectic décor, with weird and wonderful artefacts and posters lining the way to the bar. The main room itself feels like a cool, post-war loft, festooned with sepia photographs, vintage typewriters, and even old letters and postcards. The cocktail menu deviates from the classics (though you can order those, too) but not in too pretentious a way. Rums and gins blend with recognizable ingredients and are renamed accessibly: The Skyliner, The Seersucker. The glasswear is nice too. If you’re staying downtown, it’s well worth the small effort it takes to take the streetcar up to the Lower Garden District. The vintage elevators are pretty impressive too.
Jewel of the South
The tastefully colorful Creole cottage in a relatively quiet corner of the French Quarter is a suitably historic home for Jewel of the South, a new venture from two of the city’s most renowned bartenders. Named for a 19th-century local bar that was among the first in the city to serve cocktails, Nick Detrich and Chris Hannah have opened up this small, perfectly formed rustic tavern—think bare brickwork and dark woods—in miniature, which pays homage to those early days. This bar taps into the history of drinking (and eating) in New Orleans in a way that's unique for the city. It genuinely feels like a heartfelt tribute to the drinks and bartenders that paved the way for the modern cocktail scene, and there are no better stewards than Nick and Chris.
Minted Lounge
One of the newest additions to the city’s cocktail bar portfolio is already making waves, and Minted Lounge certainly looks the part of a new, sexy cocktail bar. The interior has broodingly-cool dark woods and a stylish, double-marble bar, more reminiscent of New York than classic New Orleans. Velvet-laden bar chairs and corner nooks add to the high-end ambience, Mid-century details mixing with historic, exposed brickwork. As a cocktail bar in this city, you’re going to be extensively judged on your signature drinks. The bar program here stands up to the challenge, with a fruit-forward list that is sensitive to the seasons. I enjoyed a couple of blueberry-tinged concoctions, the Saint Claude Don for example made from whiskey, orange bitters and a blueberry harvest syrup that results in a complex, but well-balanced mix. Expect slightly-less-mainstream ingredients such as mezcal and cognac, and non-drinkers aren’t forgotten with mocktails such as the fruity and minty Neaux-hito.
Cure
This upscale New Orleans cocktail bar is housed in a former fire station that dates to 1903. The long, narrow room has striking arched windows at one end, casting light onto the bar, which frames a truly awe-inspiring wall of spirits and liqueurs. During the week, it's mostly local and visiting cocktail cognoscenti, keen to carve out quality time with the best-trained mixologists in the city. Expect to see rare bottles pulled from the shelves and all manner of weird and wonderful concoctions offered up from the menu and from their encyclopedic knowledge of drinks. On the weekend, it’s a busier scene with less discerning but still well-turned out cocktail enthusiasts. As arguably the most interesting cocktail experience in a city of cocktail experiences, it’s a strong contender for your most special occasion, but a casual Sunday afternoon adventure is also a delight.
Bacchannal Fine Wine & Spirits
A Bywater bottle shop that happens to host the city's best backyard parties. And guess what? Everyone's invited! The backyard patio pulses nightly with live music and a sea of heads bobbing along to it. Live music (mostly the some permutation or other of jazz) is played out on the patio seven days a week. It rattles and hums like the rest of NOLA's great jazz clubs, but it's much more laid-back due to its location and sprawling, moonlit layout. This is best for a, dare we say, dignified night out on the town, free of Bourbon Street buffoonery and full of biodynamic wine. If you aren't able to find a spot at a table—you gotta get here early to snag one—join the many groups of friends standing around ice buckets, stemware in hand, and enjoy the music.
Saint-Germain
Like many smaller restaurants in residential spots in New Orleans, Saint-Germain feels like a friend’s house. The only giveaways it's not are the sign from this location’s former incarnation (a pizza joint called Sugar Park) and a more subtle signage of the new name on the door. Inside the double-shotgun building, a long wine bar leads out to a casual courtyard and a dining room that seats about 16, a nod to the bistro side of the business. Wine is the main focus here, and it’s a robust but not overly extended list that concentrates mainly on European labels. The sparkling selection is all French and German, with Spanish and Italian (and even Lebanese) nosing into the whites, reds, and roses. There are at least a dozen wines by the glass, some from $9 a pour.
Elysian Bar
As part of the Hotel Peter and Paul, which is located in a nest of buildings associated with a former church, The Elysian Bar has a somewhat ecclesiastical entrance. The former rectory opens up as you walk in to two casually decadent lounge rooms with jarringly high ceilings and swathes of fabric. After passing through these rooms and the charming courtyard, you arrive at the bar itself, a symphony of oranges and yellows with striking arches suggestive of Gaudi and tiki-like bamboo embellishments on the walls. It's a look that shouldn’t work in theory, but does in practice. There's a late night Happy Hour on Friday and Saturday nights, 10 p.m. to midnight. The classic cocktails also skew European, with Campari and gin featuring heavily alongside some nods to tiki. The wine list is short but solid, and the beer list deftly avoids cliches.
Cane & Table
Set amid a row of dive bars on a vaguely insalubrious block of Lower Decatur is the anonymous bar and restaurant that started the city’s mini-Tiki trend. There’s a sense of Old Havana as you enter, though you have to imagine the cigar smoke. Up front is a colonial-looking bar with high ceilings and chandeliers, then out back there’s the kind of tropical courtyard that NOLA does best, all leafy greenery and convivial seclusion. It’s a Tiki bar for people who don’t think that they like Tiki bars. The subtlety and sheer enthusiasm of the place make it so much more than a place to drink a fruit punch, but don’t think they’re beyond whipping you up something ridiculous with paper umbrellas because they most definitely are not.
The AllWays Lounge & Cabaret
Sitting very prettily on Saint Claude Avenue, the show bills on the outside walls of this cute, brightly-painted building suggest that it’s not your regular neighborhood bar. Stepping inside, the full glitz and glitter of the city’s cabaret scene is on display, not least around the stage in the main barroom. There’s a beautiful, DIY-showbiz aesthetic, all disco balls and neon popping in the low lighting, and some of the city’s most glamorous burlesque and drag stars looking out over patrons from posters and flyers. The drinks menu edges towards dive bar-style. That’s not to say there isn’t invention, though, and the bar staff have put together a few thoroughly decent, and cheekily-named cocktails. You can regularly find frozen drinks and even jello shots on occasion, and the prices won’t trouble your paycheck too much.
Erin Rose
No matter what time you roll up to Erin Rose, you’re unlikely to have the place to yourself. It's the French Quarter after all, and this small Irish pub is always busy. A large window opens out into the street; inside, the walls are bedecked with all sorts of paraphernalia, layers of neon signs, posters, and stickers that speak to a haunt that’s long-lived and well-loved. Erin Rose is a straightforward bar with some surprises. The standouts are the Bloody Mary, that uses a house-made mix and the frozen Irish coffee, which are a real hit during the first third of opening hours. The beer list has a good local and regional selection, and the Guinness flows freely.
Arnaud's French 75
Formerly the gentlemen’s bar of the legendary Arnaud’s Restaurant, this bijoux annex has the feel of a high-class French brasserie, with its polished mahogany, tiled floors, and exotically-covered armchairs around small tables. The staff wear white tuxedos and the sense of refinement is palpable. A fair number of people are here for their signature drink, the eponymous French 75, a mix of cognac and Champagne that has a couple of solid variations here. The classics are obviously strongly represented, but the drinks program can also be surprisingly daring—their Pisco Derby was outstanding. It’s always a thrill to go and sample a cocktail in its spiritual home, and have one of the world’s best bartenders make it for you. Out of town visitors and dates can be further impressed by your suggesting a quick trip upstairs to the hidden Mardi Grad Museum with vintage costumes and photos.
Manolito
Stroll too quickly along the historic French Quarter’s Dumaine Street and you might almost miss the unassuming exterior of this bijoux, Cuban-leaning cocktail bar. Step through the door, though, and you’re transported to Havana. Salsa and mambo beats float across the air, vintage posters adorn the walls and a line of blenders hint at the character of the cocktail menu. The bar is named for Manuel ‘Manolito’ Carbajo Aguiar, a legendary drinks-slinger who worked at the famous El Floridita bar in Havana. From the seminal Floridita Daiquiri to its Strawberry variation to a none-more-classic margarita, not many places in the city are taking this much care with the ingredients, concoction, and presentation. The double-blended section boasts high-end Pina Coladas and Hurricanes, not served in lurid, neon plastic beakers like many drinks served in this neighborhood. All of this is before we even get to the ‘Shaken’, ‘Thrown’ and ‘Effervescent’ categories, all similarly replete with class-winning examples.
Barrel Proof
This spot’s former resident was the locally-loved Bridge Lounge and so the care taken in its renovation for this incarnation is reassuring. Yes, it’s a long, low-ceilinged, windowless room but the polished woods and cowhide rugs give it the feeling of a party-friendly cabin. The local Lower Garden District doyens have taken to this place in their droves. It’s a whiskey bar. Just to prove it, there are over 300 (at the time of visiting) whiskies and bourbons and ryes and scotches to try, so you can keep coming for a whole year and not get bored. Selections range from the usual barroom suspects to rare Japanese imports and if you’re not sure where you stand on whiskey, there are affordable flights to guide your palate.
Twelve Mile Limit
There’s an element of stealth involved in the way 12 Mile Limit reveals its character to you. If you didn’t know it and just happened by, you’d assume from the nondescript exterior and immediate interior that you’re at a regular New Orleans neighborhood bar. There’s the usual array of thrift store wall decorations, low ceilings and pool table. So far, so familiar. The bar’s owner, one T Cole Newton, is a very respected alumnus of the New Orleans’s craft cocktail scene and is bringing mixology to the masses in one of the new waves of lower-key cocktail bars that have popped up in New Orleans. The cocktail menu coaxes you in with drinks made from only a few ingredients, but with weird unexpected twists that elevate the selection. The beer and cider selection also throws a few oddities into a recognizable mix.
Kermit's Treme Mother in Law Lounge
The building is emphatically hard to miss, covered as it is in technicolor murals of local musical icons and various strikingly festive scenes. Inside has the feeling of a tricked-out family home basement, but with Mardi Gras colored tiling. There’s likely live music out front or it’s beckoning you to the back room, oftentimes featuring Kermit Ruffins himself, and a back patio hosts various cook-outs. The bar offerings are pretty straight forward, and it’s predominantly, if not exclusively, a beer, shot, and simple mixed drinks kind of place. There’s a nod to local breweries but expect the expected and not craft ales. Kermit Ruffins is one of the city’s favorite sons, and his civic pride and infectious joie de vivre just exude from his bar. Free food, cheap drinks, and music that flows like the lifeblood of this neighborhood.
Bar Tonique
The line between dive bar and cocktail den isn’t an easy one to navigate, but this cozy Rampart Street joint manages it with aplomb. A simple, square room with a central bar so that everyone can see each other, high ceilings, traditional wooden décor and a wealth of booze on the walls. Simple, but effective. The big draw is the menu of happy hour cocktails for $6 during the week. The cheapest Aviations and Old Fashioneds in New Orleans, and made well. Beyond that, and when you find yourself staying on into the night, you can meander through an extensive list of local classics such as sazeracs and juleps or broaden your horizons in almost any direction. The bar's non-alcoholic Temperance menu of sodas is also impressive.
Courtyard Brewery
The leafy residential environs of the Lower Garden District weren’t an obvious location for what was the city’s first nano-brewery, but brewer Scott Wood isn’t shy of challenges or doing things a little differently, and this scrappy ‘dive-brewery’ that has slowly evolved, expanded, and has an undeniably strong reputation. The menu at the time of writing had about 25 beers on tap; to relative brewing laymen, most breweries seem to roll out endless IPAs thanks to its continued cultural dominance, and although this beer species is represented here, your palate can definitely enjoy a little more variety—chocolate stouts and milds, sours and pale wheats, all line up, mostly with amusingly pithy names (‘Existence is Elsewhere’) and with a seasonally-sensitive list. You’ll find much to delight in and explore whenever you choose to visit.
Avenue Pub
Before the (mostly very good) microbreweries came to New Orleans, there was the Avenue Pub. Sitting nonchalantly on St Charles in the Lower Garden District, it’s been a beacon for serious beer fans in the city for years. The charmingly ramshackle building has been around since the late 19th century, and there’s a British pub feel to the place, with wooden beams and furniture, plus a spacious balcony that overlooks the streetcar and one of the city’s busiest streets. The pub typically has 60 bottled beers and 40 beers on tap at any given time. You’’ll find everything from IPAs and sours to ciders, meads, barrel-aged stouts, and barley wines. Upstairs are rare and hard-to- find beers that you’d otherwise have to travel out of state to taste. It’s a beer drinker’s dream bar, and there's nowhere in town quite like it. A microbrewery is open right next door, which adds to the already-impressive selection of brews on tap.
Vaughan's Lounge
From the outside, Vaughan's Lounge may not look like much more than another neighborhood dive. Inside, though, are over-the-top decorations and dozens of photos that point to a bar that’s well-loved by locals (it’s been here since 1959). Add in the fact that it’s one of the few places to watch live jazz that isn’t a busy, tourist-packed club or hotel lounge, and you’ve got a good reason to search out this Bywater treasure. Older regulars who will happily share their opinions on the latest local political scandal or sports game; newer, younger neighborhood locals making the most of their weekends.
Pigeon and Whale
If you’re a negroni fan and want to navigate some unexplored shores, then this is the culinary port that you want to set sail for. House cocktails are divided into ‘Stirred/Stiff’ and ‘Shaken/Sour’ mini lists, with amusing names (‘Your Bum’s a Plum’ and ‘Hendricks Lamar’ among the stand-outs) and playfully maximalist nautical design must also be responsible for a few curious guests passing through. This being New Orleans, there isn’t exactly a shortage of seafood options (and the wine selections skew white, given the seafood-focused menu), but Pigeon and Whale brings in a noteworthy bounty that is drawn from beyond the more common Gulf Coast origins: Maine lobster rolls, Prince Edward Island mussels, and North Atlantic Scallops are a rarity in this part of the world, so they’re an especially welcome addition to the decent list of locally-made beers and ciders. Add to this a choice of oysters that from sources like Rhode Island and Washington, and you’ve got yourself a seafood spot that stands out.
The Sazerac Bar
You can almost sense the history as you walk into the Roosevelt Hotel’s signature bar. A small seating area gives way to the long, narrow bar room with its dark, African Walnut woods, leather-backed chairs and the striking colorful murals of old New Orleans that frame the entire scene. Even in a city of characterful hotel bars, it stands out, though it’s definitely upscale so you’ll want to dress appropriately. You’re drinking a Sazerac, obviously; a mix of rye whiskey and bitters in an absinthe-rinsed rocks glass that, and though it can be an acquired taste, the version made here is among the best in town. The bar also has history with the Ramos Gin Fizz, a cream-heavy concoction that puffs out of its tall glass like a boozy milkshake, and has its own creations, too, as well as a liquor and beer selection that you’d expect from the five-star hotel.
Beachbum Berry's Latitude 29
There’s a decent choice of tiki bars in New Orleans, but there’s only one that’s been fashioned by one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject. Jeff ‘Beachbum’ Berry is said expert, and this bar—one of the best of its kind in the country, if not the world—is his homage to the craft. Latitude 29 is a rum-doused cathedral, where mid-century tiki cocktail culture is celebrated with flair and passion. Located on the ground floor of Decatur Street’s Bienville Hotel, it’s a stylish lounge that’s tastefully yet enthusiastically festooned with sacred tiki artifacts, maps, and iconography. The classic Mai Tais and Zombies are as good as you’re going to find anywhere, and the bar’s originals, such as the Pontchartrain Pearl Diver (iced and buttered Jamaican rum with passionfruit and lime) and the Outcast of the Islands (gin muddled with cinnamon, ginger, almond, and anise), are equally boozy and complex. All of the drinks are aesthetically playful, with fresh-flower garnishes, creative ice, and delightful drinking vessels.
The Dew Drop Inn
Fans of vintage New Orleans jazz are already making a pilgrimage to this near-scared spot. A version of this bar has been here since the mid 1940s, a place that quickly gained a reputation for good times, and known widely as ‘the city’s swankiest nightclub’. It was a hub for the Black community, and legends such as Ray Charles, Irma Thomas, and Fats Domino were known patrons. After falling into disrepair by the 2010s, the bar was saved by the Louisiana Landmark Society and lovingly restored to its former glory, reopening in March 2024. There are two bars, one at the pool club and one in the main room, which also functions as 400-person music venue. The cocktail selection is surprisingly good, not to mention affordable, with the bar making their own specials. They’re largely variations on the classics, but are given a local twist. There’s a lemon drop Martini called the Dew Drop, for example, which is made with a sweet peach liqueur.
Hot Tin
As the elevator doors open onto the rooftop of the Pontchartrain Hotel, two things hit you almost immediately: the buzz of conversation and the eclectic décor, with weird and wonderful artefacts and posters lining the way to the bar. The main room itself feels like a cool, post-war loft, festooned with sepia photographs, vintage typewriters, and even old letters and postcards. The cocktail menu deviates from the classics (though you can order those, too) but not in too pretentious a way. Rums and gins blend with recognizable ingredients and are renamed accessibly: The Skyliner, The Seersucker. The glasswear is nice too. If you’re staying downtown, it’s well worth the small effort it takes to take the streetcar up to the Lower Garden District. The vintage elevators are pretty impressive too.
Jewel of the South
The tastefully colorful Creole cottage in a relatively quiet corner of the French Quarter is a suitably historic home for Jewel of the South, a new venture from two of the city’s most renowned bartenders. Named for a 19th-century local bar that was among the first in the city to serve cocktails, Nick Detrich and Chris Hannah have opened up this small, perfectly formed rustic tavern—think bare brickwork and dark woods—in miniature, which pays homage to those early days. This bar taps into the history of drinking (and eating) in New Orleans in a way that's unique for the city. It genuinely feels like a heartfelt tribute to the drinks and bartenders that paved the way for the modern cocktail scene, and there are no better stewards than Nick and Chris.
Minted Lounge
One of the newest additions to the city’s cocktail bar portfolio is already making waves, and Minted Lounge certainly looks the part of a new, sexy cocktail bar. The interior has broodingly-cool dark woods and a stylish, double-marble bar, more reminiscent of New York than classic New Orleans. Velvet-laden bar chairs and corner nooks add to the high-end ambience, Mid-century details mixing with historic, exposed brickwork. As a cocktail bar in this city, you’re going to be extensively judged on your signature drinks. The bar program here stands up to the challenge, with a fruit-forward list that is sensitive to the seasons. I enjoyed a couple of blueberry-tinged concoctions, the Saint Claude Don for example made from whiskey, orange bitters and a blueberry harvest syrup that results in a complex, but well-balanced mix. Expect slightly-less-mainstream ingredients such as mezcal and cognac, and non-drinkers aren’t forgotten with mocktails such as the fruity and minty Neaux-hito.
Cure
This upscale New Orleans cocktail bar is housed in a former fire station that dates to 1903. The long, narrow room has striking arched windows at one end, casting light onto the bar, which frames a truly awe-inspiring wall of spirits and liqueurs. During the week, it's mostly local and visiting cocktail cognoscenti, keen to carve out quality time with the best-trained mixologists in the city. Expect to see rare bottles pulled from the shelves and all manner of weird and wonderful concoctions offered up from the menu and from their encyclopedic knowledge of drinks. On the weekend, it’s a busier scene with less discerning but still well-turned out cocktail enthusiasts. As arguably the most interesting cocktail experience in a city of cocktail experiences, it’s a strong contender for your most special occasion, but a casual Sunday afternoon adventure is also a delight.
Bacchannal Fine Wine & Spirits
A Bywater bottle shop that happens to host the city's best backyard parties. And guess what? Everyone's invited! The backyard patio pulses nightly with live music and a sea of heads bobbing along to it. Live music (mostly the some permutation or other of jazz) is played out on the patio seven days a week. It rattles and hums like the rest of NOLA's great jazz clubs, but it's much more laid-back due to its location and sprawling, moonlit layout. This is best for a, dare we say, dignified night out on the town, free of Bourbon Street buffoonery and full of biodynamic wine. If you aren't able to find a spot at a table—you gotta get here early to snag one—join the many groups of friends standing around ice buckets, stemware in hand, and enjoy the music.
Saint-Germain
Like many smaller restaurants in residential spots in New Orleans, Saint-Germain feels like a friend’s house. The only giveaways it's not are the sign from this location’s former incarnation (a pizza joint called Sugar Park) and a more subtle signage of the new name on the door. Inside the double-shotgun building, a long wine bar leads out to a casual courtyard and a dining room that seats about 16, a nod to the bistro side of the business. Wine is the main focus here, and it’s a robust but not overly extended list that concentrates mainly on European labels. The sparkling selection is all French and German, with Spanish and Italian (and even Lebanese) nosing into the whites, reds, and roses. There are at least a dozen wines by the glass, some from $9 a pour.
Elysian Bar
As part of the Hotel Peter and Paul, which is located in a nest of buildings associated with a former church, The Elysian Bar has a somewhat ecclesiastical entrance. The former rectory opens up as you walk in to two casually decadent lounge rooms with jarringly high ceilings and swathes of fabric. After passing through these rooms and the charming courtyard, you arrive at the bar itself, a symphony of oranges and yellows with striking arches suggestive of Gaudi and tiki-like bamboo embellishments on the walls. It's a look that shouldn’t work in theory, but does in practice. There's a late night Happy Hour on Friday and Saturday nights, 10 p.m. to midnight. The classic cocktails also skew European, with Campari and gin featuring heavily alongside some nods to tiki. The wine list is short but solid, and the beer list deftly avoids cliches.
Cane & Table
Set amid a row of dive bars on a vaguely insalubrious block of Lower Decatur is the anonymous bar and restaurant that started the city’s mini-Tiki trend. There’s a sense of Old Havana as you enter, though you have to imagine the cigar smoke. Up front is a colonial-looking bar with high ceilings and chandeliers, then out back there’s the kind of tropical courtyard that NOLA does best, all leafy greenery and convivial seclusion. It’s a Tiki bar for people who don’t think that they like Tiki bars. The subtlety and sheer enthusiasm of the place make it so much more than a place to drink a fruit punch, but don’t think they’re beyond whipping you up something ridiculous with paper umbrellas because they most definitely are not.
The AllWays Lounge & Cabaret
Sitting very prettily on Saint Claude Avenue, the show bills on the outside walls of this cute, brightly-painted building suggest that it’s not your regular neighborhood bar. Stepping inside, the full glitz and glitter of the city’s cabaret scene is on display, not least around the stage in the main barroom. There’s a beautiful, DIY-showbiz aesthetic, all disco balls and neon popping in the low lighting, and some of the city’s most glamorous burlesque and drag stars looking out over patrons from posters and flyers. The drinks menu edges towards dive bar-style. That’s not to say there isn’t invention, though, and the bar staff have put together a few thoroughly decent, and cheekily-named cocktails. You can regularly find frozen drinks and even jello shots on occasion, and the prices won’t trouble your paycheck too much.
Erin Rose
No matter what time you roll up to Erin Rose, you’re unlikely to have the place to yourself. It's the French Quarter after all, and this small Irish pub is always busy. A large window opens out into the street; inside, the walls are bedecked with all sorts of paraphernalia, layers of neon signs, posters, and stickers that speak to a haunt that’s long-lived and well-loved. Erin Rose is a straightforward bar with some surprises. The standouts are the Bloody Mary, that uses a house-made mix and the frozen Irish coffee, which are a real hit during the first third of opening hours. The beer list has a good local and regional selection, and the Guinness flows freely.
Arnaud's French 75
Formerly the gentlemen’s bar of the legendary Arnaud’s Restaurant, this bijoux annex has the feel of a high-class French brasserie, with its polished mahogany, tiled floors, and exotically-covered armchairs around small tables. The staff wear white tuxedos and the sense of refinement is palpable. A fair number of people are here for their signature drink, the eponymous French 75, a mix of cognac and Champagne that has a couple of solid variations here. The classics are obviously strongly represented, but the drinks program can also be surprisingly daring—their Pisco Derby was outstanding. It’s always a thrill to go and sample a cocktail in its spiritual home, and have one of the world’s best bartenders make it for you. Out of town visitors and dates can be further impressed by your suggesting a quick trip upstairs to the hidden Mardi Grad Museum with vintage costumes and photos.
Manolito
Stroll too quickly along the historic French Quarter’s Dumaine Street and you might almost miss the unassuming exterior of this bijoux, Cuban-leaning cocktail bar. Step through the door, though, and you’re transported to Havana. Salsa and mambo beats float across the air, vintage posters adorn the walls and a line of blenders hint at the character of the cocktail menu. The bar is named for Manuel ‘Manolito’ Carbajo Aguiar, a legendary drinks-slinger who worked at the famous El Floridita bar in Havana. From the seminal Floridita Daiquiri to its Strawberry variation to a none-more-classic margarita, not many places in the city are taking this much care with the ingredients, concoction, and presentation. The double-blended section boasts high-end Pina Coladas and Hurricanes, not served in lurid, neon plastic beakers like many drinks served in this neighborhood. All of this is before we even get to the ‘Shaken’, ‘Thrown’ and ‘Effervescent’ categories, all similarly replete with class-winning examples.
Barrel Proof
This spot’s former resident was the locally-loved Bridge Lounge and so the care taken in its renovation for this incarnation is reassuring. Yes, it’s a long, low-ceilinged, windowless room but the polished woods and cowhide rugs give it the feeling of a party-friendly cabin. The local Lower Garden District doyens have taken to this place in their droves. It’s a whiskey bar. Just to prove it, there are over 300 (at the time of visiting) whiskies and bourbons and ryes and scotches to try, so you can keep coming for a whole year and not get bored. Selections range from the usual barroom suspects to rare Japanese imports and if you’re not sure where you stand on whiskey, there are affordable flights to guide your palate.
Twelve Mile Limit
There’s an element of stealth involved in the way 12 Mile Limit reveals its character to you. If you didn’t know it and just happened by, you’d assume from the nondescript exterior and immediate interior that you’re at a regular New Orleans neighborhood bar. There’s the usual array of thrift store wall decorations, low ceilings and pool table. So far, so familiar. The bar’s owner, one T Cole Newton, is a very respected alumnus of the New Orleans’s craft cocktail scene and is bringing mixology to the masses in one of the new waves of lower-key cocktail bars that have popped up in New Orleans. The cocktail menu coaxes you in with drinks made from only a few ingredients, but with weird unexpected twists that elevate the selection. The beer and cider selection also throws a few oddities into a recognizable mix.
Kermit's Treme Mother in Law Lounge
The building is emphatically hard to miss, covered as it is in technicolor murals of local musical icons and various strikingly festive scenes. Inside has the feeling of a tricked-out family home basement, but with Mardi Gras colored tiling. There’s likely live music out front or it’s beckoning you to the back room, oftentimes featuring Kermit Ruffins himself, and a back patio hosts various cook-outs. The bar offerings are pretty straight forward, and it’s predominantly, if not exclusively, a beer, shot, and simple mixed drinks kind of place. There’s a nod to local breweries but expect the expected and not craft ales. Kermit Ruffins is one of the city’s favorite sons, and his civic pride and infectious joie de vivre just exude from his bar. Free food, cheap drinks, and music that flows like the lifeblood of this neighborhood.
Bar Tonique
The line between dive bar and cocktail den isn’t an easy one to navigate, but this cozy Rampart Street joint manages it with aplomb. A simple, square room with a central bar so that everyone can see each other, high ceilings, traditional wooden décor and a wealth of booze on the walls. Simple, but effective. The big draw is the menu of happy hour cocktails for $6 during the week. The cheapest Aviations and Old Fashioneds in New Orleans, and made well. Beyond that, and when you find yourself staying on into the night, you can meander through an extensive list of local classics such as sazeracs and juleps or broaden your horizons in almost any direction. The bar's non-alcoholic Temperance menu of sodas is also impressive.
Courtyard Brewery
The leafy residential environs of the Lower Garden District weren’t an obvious location for what was the city’s first nano-brewery, but brewer Scott Wood isn’t shy of challenges or doing things a little differently, and this scrappy ‘dive-brewery’ that has slowly evolved, expanded, and has an undeniably strong reputation. The menu at the time of writing had about 25 beers on tap; to relative brewing laymen, most breweries seem to roll out endless IPAs thanks to its continued cultural dominance, and although this beer species is represented here, your palate can definitely enjoy a little more variety—chocolate stouts and milds, sours and pale wheats, all line up, mostly with amusingly pithy names (‘Existence is Elsewhere’) and with a seasonally-sensitive list. You’ll find much to delight in and explore whenever you choose to visit.
Avenue Pub
Before the (mostly very good) microbreweries came to New Orleans, there was the Avenue Pub. Sitting nonchalantly on St Charles in the Lower Garden District, it’s been a beacon for serious beer fans in the city for years. The charmingly ramshackle building has been around since the late 19th century, and there’s a British pub feel to the place, with wooden beams and furniture, plus a spacious balcony that overlooks the streetcar and one of the city’s busiest streets. The pub typically has 60 bottled beers and 40 beers on tap at any given time. You’’ll find everything from IPAs and sours to ciders, meads, barrel-aged stouts, and barley wines. Upstairs are rare and hard-to- find beers that you’d otherwise have to travel out of state to taste. It’s a beer drinker’s dream bar, and there's nowhere in town quite like it. A microbrewery is open right next door, which adds to the already-impressive selection of brews on tap.
Vaughan's Lounge
From the outside, Vaughan's Lounge may not look like much more than another neighborhood dive. Inside, though, are over-the-top decorations and dozens of photos that point to a bar that’s well-loved by locals (it’s been here since 1959). Add in the fact that it’s one of the few places to watch live jazz that isn’t a busy, tourist-packed club or hotel lounge, and you’ve got a good reason to search out this Bywater treasure. Older regulars who will happily share their opinions on the latest local political scandal or sports game; newer, younger neighborhood locals making the most of their weekends.
Pigeon and Whale
If you’re a negroni fan and want to navigate some unexplored shores, then this is the culinary port that you want to set sail for. House cocktails are divided into ‘Stirred/Stiff’ and ‘Shaken/Sour’ mini lists, with amusing names (‘Your Bum’s a Plum’ and ‘Hendricks Lamar’ among the stand-outs) and playfully maximalist nautical design must also be responsible for a few curious guests passing through. This being New Orleans, there isn’t exactly a shortage of seafood options (and the wine selections skew white, given the seafood-focused menu), but Pigeon and Whale brings in a noteworthy bounty that is drawn from beyond the more common Gulf Coast origins: Maine lobster rolls, Prince Edward Island mussels, and North Atlantic Scallops are a rarity in this part of the world, so they’re an especially welcome addition to the decent list of locally-made beers and ciders. Add to this a choice of oysters that from sources like Rhode Island and Washington, and you’ve got yourself a seafood spot that stands out.
The Sazerac Bar
You can almost sense the history as you walk into the Roosevelt Hotel’s signature bar. A small seating area gives way to the long, narrow bar room with its dark, African Walnut woods, leather-backed chairs and the striking colorful murals of old New Orleans that frame the entire scene. Even in a city of characterful hotel bars, it stands out, though it’s definitely upscale so you’ll want to dress appropriately. You’re drinking a Sazerac, obviously; a mix of rye whiskey and bitters in an absinthe-rinsed rocks glass that, and though it can be an acquired taste, the version made here is among the best in town. The bar also has history with the Ramos Gin Fizz, a cream-heavy concoction that puffs out of its tall glass like a boozy milkshake, and has its own creations, too, as well as a liquor and beer selection that you’d expect from the five-star hotel.
Beachbum Berry's Latitude 29
There’s a decent choice of tiki bars in New Orleans, but there’s only one that’s been fashioned by one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject. Jeff ‘Beachbum’ Berry is said expert, and this bar—one of the best of its kind in the country, if not the world—is his homage to the craft. Latitude 29 is a rum-doused cathedral, where mid-century tiki cocktail culture is celebrated with flair and passion. Located on the ground floor of Decatur Street’s Bienville Hotel, it’s a stylish lounge that’s tastefully yet enthusiastically festooned with sacred tiki artifacts, maps, and iconography. The classic Mai Tais and Zombies are as good as you’re going to find anywhere, and the bar’s originals, such as the Pontchartrain Pearl Diver (iced and buttered Jamaican rum with passionfruit and lime) and the Outcast of the Islands (gin muddled with cinnamon, ginger, almond, and anise), are equally boozy and complex. All of the drinks are aesthetically playful, with fresh-flower garnishes, creative ice, and delightful drinking vessels.