Imbibist

Thanks to a good friend who also happens to be a New Orleans local, I was able to get an introduction to Chris Hannah, bartender at Arnaud’s French 75 Bar in the French Quarter. Arnaud’s is a storied restaurant opened in 1918 by Count Arnaud Cazenave. Given Chris’s reputation as one of New Orleans’ top bartenders, it’s only fitting he run the bar of such an establishment.
 

My inclination was to order some classic New Orleans drinks – Sazerac, Ramos Gin Fizz, and the like – from a local maestro.  However, my buddy had a simple and better suggestion: let Chris do the driving. He is the master, after all. Not surprisingly, this proved to be the superior path.
 

The Last Word

My girlfriend and I arrived at French 75 on a Friday evening and took a seat at the bar. We chatted with Chris for a bit, and then told him we’d like him to drive us through three courses of drinks. After asking us of our mood and our plans for later – he didn’t want to get us trashed, as it was still early and our last night in town – he started us with his variation of The Last Word. The Last Word is a prohibition era cocktail, using equal parts of gin, Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and fresh lime juice. Hannah’s version, however, replaced the maraschino with Suze, a French liqueur flavored with gentian root. Not knowing what the hell Suze or gential root was, Chris gave us a short shot of the liqueur so we could taste it straight. We both found the smell metallic, but the flavor quite floral. The cocktail itself was fantastic, a perfect balance of botanicals, citrus, sweetness, and alcohol.
 

Suze Liqueur

Our second course was a mix of gin, dram, and Cynar. The name of this drink, well, I’m not so sure. Phonetically, the name of the drink is “Tamerus.” Chris explained that “Tamerus” (Tmolus, perhaps?) was a figure from Greek mythology who, due to some type of conflict, became quite bitter at his adversary. I’m not going to butcher the name of the drink or the ancient tale any further, but do understand the character’s bitterness is reflected through the use of Cynar in the cocktail. Clever.
 

Perhaps more interesting than the root of the cocktail’s name was the dram, made by Chris himself. Standard dram is made by steeping allspice berries in rum, and then mixing with simple syrup. An even easier “recipe” is to buy a bottle from the liquor store. Hannah’s dram involved steeping cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice in rum, which was later added to hibiscus syrup. Again, Chris gave us a short shot of the dram to taste alone. Light on alcohol, but rich in flavor, the dram countered well against the bitterness of the Cynar without overwhelming the gin.
 

Our final course brought us back to a citrus cocktail. This was part of Hannah’s plan to keep us from getting completely wasted, as the previous drink consisted of purely alcoholic ingredients. Chris called this drink The Movie Goer, and it was made of Orange Curacao, gin, Averna, and fresh lemon juice. While this drink certainly didn’t look light, it was actually quite refreshing after the previous round.
 

The Cocktail with the Unknown Greek Name

There were two things I took away from our trip to French 75. First, Chris Hannah operates on a different space/time continuum than your standard bartender. This is reflected in the ingredients selected and the patience he displays while mixing each drink. His dedication to precision is demonstrated by his use of a small measuring cup. Yes, he measures out each ingredient with incredible precision, so if you go, please don’t be in a hurry.
 

The second point I took away is a testament to the first point. You see, my girlfriend is an avid vodka Martini drinker, but she dislikes gin Martinis. In other words, she’s not afraid of the taste of alcohol, but doesn’t care for the taste of gin. As all three of our courses were gin based, she continued to shake her head in disbelief. She verbally attested to liking them all, and repeated more than once, “I can’t believe I actually like a(nother) gin drink.” Apparently the right mix of ingredients can win over even a skeptic.  Congrats, Chris Hannah, on helping convert my girlfriend to gin. Now it’s my duty to keep her along that path, until our inevitable return to New Orleans.