Description: When a tour guide in New Orleans passes out Mardi Gras beads, it’s a definite sign that unbearable cheesiness is ahead, except, that is, when your guide is Sandra on the Southern Comfort Cocktail Tour.
When Sandra began the tour by emphasizing that this was not a pub crawl, I thought she’d be whispering to the bartenders to water down our drinks with just a bit more ice. But Sandra, once she opened up to our whoppingly large group of three young women, proved to be the most informative, amusing, and friendly tour guide I’ve had in my travels to four continents, but just so you aren’t disappointed when you aren’t seeing two Bourbon Streets at the end of it all, this is definitely not a pub crawl.
Sandra, who, like the other tour guides, caters each tour to the ages and interests of the group, began by giving a bit of drinking history about intoxicated New Orleans, and, describing the drunken antics of past New Orleanians and such factoids as how the word cocktail originated (yep, right here in New Orleans), this wasn’t your high school American history class. But, more importantly, the first drink was offered in what seemed like mere minutes after leaving the Gray Line Tours tent.
With a proper British name, a Pimm’s Cup began our drinking streak through the French Quarter. Interestingly enough, we sampled it at the Napoleon, and the gin-based aperitif, lemon juice, and 7-Up with a slice of cucumber was successful in stopping the "glisten" (not sweat, mind you) that had been covering my skin since exiting my air-conditioned hotel room. But it was only a few minutes before being told to get our booties moving, taking our plastic cups onto the street.
A whirlwind of restaurants, bars, and drinks followed. Antoine’s, the second oldest restaurant in the U.S., has been entered on my Where To Go If I Won The Lottery checklist, their concept of a private waiter you can call on their cell and who can only inherit their jobs through a family member astounding even the most seasoned foodie. Next, a drink made with Southern Comfort, fruit juices, and – prepare yourself – a thin covering of red wine at The Court of Two Sisters somehow results in a fruity but not sickingly sweet taste. After further indulging in a Super Cowboy Cocksucker (Bailey’s, butterscotch, and Southern Comfort – see a pattern here?), which we make Sandra repeat just for the hell of it, in Café Lafitte, the oldest gay bar in the US, we slowly make our way from our only stop on Bourbon Street to Tujague’s, where Sandra buys the final drink made of grenadine, pineapple juice, Sprite, and Southern Comfort, a surprisingly tasty combination, and hands out some Southern Comfort goodie bags. You won’t be seeing double yet, but, somehow, the laid-back New Orleans attitude will feel as natural as a shot of Southern Comfort.
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