Vieux Carre Cocktail, Created in New Orleans

When you need to be warmed from the inside out, a gin and tonic just isn’t going to cut it. After the heat of summer yields to the chill of fall and winter, we turn to darker spirits.

In the 1930s, bartender Walter Bergeron created the Vieux Carre cocktail in the French Quarter (no surprise there) at what is now the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone. This cocktail has a flavor profile similar to a Manhattan, but with the addition of Benedictine, cognac and Peychaud’s Bitters, it boasts a little more body and a distinctive NOLA flavor. Find classic versions at the Hotel Monteleone’s Carousel Bar and Bar Tonique. Visit EdibleNewOrleans.com for the recipe and make it at home.