LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / April 25, 1999

NEW ORLEANS – A tasty treat, not only for the eyes but also for the palate, is “Obituary Cocktail: The Great Saloons of New Orleans,” recently released by Pontalba Press.

Kerri McCaffety toured the great, remarkable and notorious bars, lounges and saloons across New Orleans, lending her discerning eye for detail, respect for history and good humor to her perceptions.

This coffee-table book is made gorgeous by 200 examples of McCaffety’s photography. It inspires the reader to plan months of cruising along thispanoply of pizzazz, boosted by bubbles and cheered by beers.

The unusual is commonplace, as befits New Orleans itself, and what others might’ve made a collage of ordinary photographs, McCaffety creates a frothy fizz of delightful features. These include a selective alcohol-related history which ranges from the first beer (Egypt around 3000 B.C.)to the opening of Tujague’s in 1857, and from the opening of America’s first nightclub (The Cave at the present Fairmont Hotel in 1893) to the opening of Pat O’Brien’s (the world’s busiest bar in 1942).

The book’s title is also the name of a notorious concoction created at Jean Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop (recipe is included, but absinthe is illegal).

Other recipes are also included, tied to the places which made them famous, from the Sazerac to the Steamboat Natchez’s Scarlett O’Hara and from Tujague’s Grasshopper to Snug Harbor’s Monsoon.

Twenty-eight bars, lounges and saloons are featured, with exquisite photographs and witty commentaries and histories of each. The bookconcludes with a photo essay on a selection of less-historical but no less worthy shrines to the art of distillation.

Peek into the Red Room, which was dissembled from the top of the Eiffel Tower and transplanted in New Orleans. Drink Georgia Moon Corn Whiskeyfrom a jar at the Maple Leaf Bar. Lift a mug for the three ghosts inhabitingO’Flaherty’s Irish Channel Pub. Indulge from one of 30,000 bottles of winefill the city-block-long wine cellar of Antoine’s. Enjoy a cocktail at itsbirthplace – The Sazerac Bar. Peer around the dimness of Jean Lafitte’sBlacksmith Shop for its trap doors, hidden spaces and perhaps the old patriot’s still-hidden treasure.

The book is a wonderful souvenir for the New Orleans visitor wishing to touch the old city’s soul, as well as a handbook for the serious historian- imbiber.

At $39.95, “Obituary Cocktail” is an essential prize without which theNew Orleanian can no more do without than a local bartender can afford to run out of rum.Back to Top

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