The Elegant Art of Day-Drinking
Hand off your Hurricane ... and order an apéritif instead.
In late 2011, Neal Bodenheimer and Kirk Estopinal, the pair behind the Freret Street cocktail bar Cure, opened up Bellocq in what was then the Hotel Modern at what was then Lee Circle. Bellocq was unique in that it focused on low-proof cocktails, specifically the cobbler, a nineteenth century drink that combined fortified wine or low-ABV apéritif liqueurs with lots of crushed ice. (See below for Neal Bodenheimer’s cobbler recipe.) Bellocq closed in 2016 because the hotel was sold, and these days Bodenheimer admits that the cocktail bar may have been ahead of its time.
Its time seems to be now, in 2019, when low-proof cocktails, spritzes, cobblers, apéritifs, and aperitivos are popping up on more and more menus at bars and restaurants. It’s a trend that businesses are happy to encourage. “Low-proof drinks are good business,” said Bodenheimer. “We can serve more drinks responsibly, and the check average is higher than the standard ‘brown and stirred’ cocktail.” It also provides for better behaved guests and an overall safer environment to drink in.
The pre-cocktail cocktail hour
The Elysian Bar in the Marigny, the bar and restaurant in the recently opened Hotel Peter and Paul offers an “Aperitivo Hour” every evening from 3 pm–6 pm, when spritzes and vermouth & tonic beverages are only $7. The selection of Italian bitter liqueur and vermouth is impressive and includes Aperitivo Montonaro from Piedmont and Ramazottie Rosato from Milan as well as Lustau Vermut Rojo from Jerez, Spain, and Routin Rouge Vermouth from Chambery, France. There are about a half-dozen selections from either category available at any given time.
“Our space and setting are heavily influenced by European design that encourages long conversations over drinks sipped at a slow pace,”
—Lisa Nguyen of the Elysian Bar
Lisa Nguyen, the general manager of the Elysian Bar, created the aperitivo list herself soon after the bar/restaurant opened. “We appreciate how expressive and regionally specific the flavor profiles are of all the aperitivi, vermouth, fortified and aromatized wines we feature,” said Nguyen. “The intention behind this is, if you have several and you pick a different spirit base each time, you can see how expressive and unique each one is and how just by changing one factor, the drink can offer wildly different flavors and aromatics.”
The price point is great for these aperitivo drinks, and beginning the evening with low-octane beverages before dinner or other plans is a well-known custom in France, Italy, and Spain. The European feel of New Orleans encourages the opportunity for bars, restaurants, and their clientele to lean into this tradition. Certainly for New Orleans cocktail aficionados, enjoying the flavors of several well-crafted drinks with smartly sourced ingredients without falling down is crucial. “Our space and setting are heavily influenced by European design that encourages long conversations over drinks sipped at a slow pace,” added Nguyen.
Summertime spritzing
Drinks that are lighter on alcohol are often lighter in other ways, creating refreshing beverages that are served with ice, like old-school cobblers, or the bubbly soda water in spritzes. In New Orleans—especially in the summer, but really, during most of the year—light and refreshing is very important.
Just before Jazz Fest this year, Sofia, an Italian restaurant located in the Warehouse District of New Orleans, launched a “make your own spritzer” menu which has been wildly popular as the heat index has climbed. Once you pair the house-infused “cello of your choice—limoncello, orangecello, limecello, grapefruitcello—with one of the herbal syrups—thyme, lavender, rosemary, basil, mint, and lemongrass ginger—it will be mixed with soda water and prosecco, and its refreshing deliciousness will satisfy your thirst.”
"We do believe the concept fits naturally in New Orleans because there’s such a strong tradition in the city of gathering together and going out for drinks and food.”
—Carina Soto Velasquez of Quixotic Projects
“Southern Italy is like Southern Louisiana—it’s a warm, day-drinking culture,” said Peter Gordon, general manager at Sofia. “You sit outside on the patio, have two or three, and move on.”
Other local restaurants have figured out of the many advantages to having low-proof options on the drink menu—aside from the reasons above—is that these drinks are very food friendly. “You can really take people on a journey” when pairing these herbal flavors and fortified wines with appropriate dishes, said Bodenheimer.
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Avo, an Uptown Sicilian restaurant, offers a selection of spritzes for $6 on their summer happy hour menu, and Compère Lapin, a French-Caribbean restaurant in the Warehouse District, has perhaps the largest sherry (a key low-proof drink ingredient) selection in New Orleans. Gianna, also in the Warehouse District, has several creative wine- and aperitivo- based cocktails on the menu.
“Aperitivo” v. “apéritif”
The only difference between “aperitivo” and “apéritif” is that aperitivo is an Italian word and apéritif is French. In both languages, it’s the pre-dinner, early-evening ritual of sessionable beverages to whet the appetite. The practice is also popular in Spain. Both words roughly translate to “to open” and the reason why these particular types of alcohol are important to the tradition is not just because of their low alcohol content; it’s because dry, bitter, and sparkling properties actually ready the palate for the upcoming meal without overwhelming it. Meals are as much as an extended experience as purely social drinking is, often with one fading into the next.
Recently, Bar Marilou opened in the Maison de la Luz hotel in the Central Business District. The bar has a very French/Parisian/Moulin Rouge feel, and the folks behind the menu and décor, Quixotic Projects from Paris, incorporated the apéritif culture as a main tenet of the bar menu.
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“Part of the culture is having light drinks or wine with some snacks before dinner,” said Carina Soto Velasquez, one of the partners at Quixotic Projects. “Sometimes even skipping dinner and just doing a long apéro is very French and also common in Mediterranean countries. We do believe the concept fits naturally in New Orleans because there’s such a strong tradition in the city of gathering together and going out for drinks and food.”
Gotta cobble
Bodenheimer jokes that “the sherry cobbler was the Sprite of its time.” It’s an ice-based drink, kind of like a mint julep, but with significantly less punch, because folks sipped on them all day. Although sherry is the classic ingredient for a cobbler, Bodenheimer notes that it can be made with any low-proof alcohol, including fruit wine, like those sold at Pontchartrain Vineyards, or even Manischewitz, if you’re keeping kosher. Just swap whatever fortified wine or low-ABV spirit out with the vermouth in the below recipe, and there’s your refreshing cobbler. Bodenheimer was kind enough to share one of Bellocq’s flagship cobbler cocktails:
Bellocq’s Vermouth Blanc Cobbler
3 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
1⁄2 oz simple syrup (equal parts water
& sugar, cold incorporation)
2 lemon quarters
Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker and shake 15 times. Strain into metal cup filled with chipped ice. Garnish with 3 raspberries and a powdered sugar dusted mint top. Add eco straw and serve.
Cocktail city
The flavor-driven culture in New Orleans—both in food and drinks—combined with the leisurely character of the city, especially in summer, explains why the aperitivo/apéritif culture is catching on. It’s like happy hour, but more food-focused. And drinking low-proof cocktails after dinner is a great way to extend a fun night without sacrificing taste or craftsmanship at a number of cool bars, like Cure, Twelve Mile Limit, Hot Tin (on top of the Pontchartrain Hotel), Victory, Loa (in the International House Hotel), and the Bouligny Tavern.
All kinds of cocktails have a place in the drink scene, it’s just good to know that there’s a whole world of drinking that’s been hidden, for the most part. As Neal Bodenheimer said, “It’s like the difference between entrees and small plates—an Old Fashioned is a steak, and a sherry cocktail is boquerones.”