Raising the Bar

Meet the makers redefining cocktail culture in the Capital City

Though ubiquitous on bar and restaurant menus today, not all cocktails are created equal. Some are truly works of art, elevating a meal or experience, perfectly balanced and picture-perfect. 

In Baton Rouge, two mixologists of note are raising expectations for what a cocktail can and should be: Maranda Howell, owner and founder of The Tipsy Librarian, and Alan Walter, Baton Rouge’s first James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service. 

Howell’s mission is aimed at “demystifying” cocktail-making for the “cocktail curious.” Walter, on the other hand, refers to himself as a “spirit handler,” an alchemist who is constantly experimenting. I recently had the good fortune to sample their creations and discuss with them the ins and outs of our local cocktail culture.

Before heading out, I did a little research on the origin of the word “cocktail.”  I’ll just say: it’s not what you think. My deep dive revealed a dark side of the … horse industry. The word is theorized to have originally referenced the controversial practice called “gingering,” in which a seller would insert a raw ginger suppository into a horse’s rear, encouraging the horse to attractively “cock its tail.”

One of the first uses of the word in reference to an alcoholic drink is found in the New York newspaper, The Balance and Columbian Repository, in 1806, which provided the definition of “a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.” Invented in New Orleans around 1838, the traditional Sazerac fits this description and is one of the oldest cocktails in America.

“For the first time ever, I realized that a cocktail could be beautiful to look at and to taste, that they could be delightfully complex, interesting, and delicious.” —Maranda Howell

Soon, all mixed drinks were being referred to as cocktails—that is, until 1862 when Jerry Thomas wrote How to Mix Drinks: or, A Bon Vivant’s Companion to differentiate the cocktail from other types of alcoholic libations. Among his recipes were ten that used bitters, including the martini. The highball was introduced in the 1890s, a drink without bitters composed of only distilled spirits and a mixer. Bartenders began referring to drinks made the “old-fashioned way” as “Old Fashioneds” to distinguish them from newer methods. 

“A cocktail should be a vacation in a glass,” said Howell, sitting at the bar top in her cocktail school, The Tipsy Librarian—which she opened in Towne Center almost two years ago. She chuckled as she told me that she really is a librarian.For years she worked at Catholic High’s library. Then one day, after dropping her son off at college in South Carolina, she had her first perfect cocktail. “For the first time ever, I realized that a cocktail could be beautiful to look at and to taste, that they could be delightfully complex, interesting, and delicious.”

Without any prior bar or restaurant experience, Howell is a self-taught mixologist. She spent hours attending celebrated mixologist Toby Maloney's bartender trainings and studying his book, The Bartender's Manifesto: How to Think, Drink, and Create Cocktails Like a Pro. Now, Maloney is a personal friend of Howell’s. After mastering the skills, Howell opened “the space [she] wished always existed” to empower others to create adult beverages at home.

Her private and group classes at The Tipsy Librarian encompass set-ups to make three cocktails and come with take-home recipes on library cards, as well as Uber vouchers. “By the third drink, everyone is best friends!” she said. In addition to talking about the drinks’ histories, Howell explains each ingredient’s role (“how the spirit is behaving”), what can go wrong (“identify the point of no return”) and how to correct it. She is confident that “with proper precision, a cocktail should come out the same each time and never be a surprise.” Encouraging her guests to be adventurous, she likes to remind them that “you have to train your palate. Take three sips before you decide if you like it or not.”

“I grew up being a small-town boy going on edible plant walks … take a strange ingredient like Spanish Moss. Why not? It’s not [any] more impressive than a grapefruit.” —Alan Walter

While Howell takes an educational approach to mixology, Alan Walter, in his practice, aspires to introduce “a sense of wonder” into the cocktail experience. I first met Walter a few years ago and quickly became a fan of his imaginative drinks. While at Brakes Bar on Government Street, he gained a local reputation for mixing exotic spirits and liquors with fresh bitters, syrups, and juices that he prepares himself, and using garnishes like fresh herbs or flowers from his garden. For a special touch, he serves his drinks in his own personal collection of vintage glassware. 

For all their beauty, what really sets Walter’s cocktails apart is his tendency to use unusual —what he calls “playful”—ingredients. He told me his talent comes naturally: “I grew up being a small-town boy going on edible plant walks … take a strange ingredient like Spanish Moss. Why not? It’s not [any] more impressive than a grapefruit.” I once asked Walter to create a special beverage for the opening of an art exhibition I curated, and he produced a frothy egg white-topped confection using gin infused with dandelion roots. He has even made margaritas with pine needles. An artist in his own right, he modestly said, “If you absorb what others have done, then you can create your own.”

After years in the industry, Walter is finally striking out on his own, launching a cocktail-catering business, which will offer tailor-made seasonal drink menus for special occasions and intimate affairs. He likes the idea of celebrating “elopement after-parties.” Called Sprezzatura after the Italian phrase that means “effortless grace,” the endeavor’s name is highly appropriate for someone known to casually add a sprig of sweet olive or a magnolia blossom to a tall-glassed Tom Collins. To introduce his new concept, Walter held a speakeasy cocktail tasting event at The Guru in May.

[Learn more about mixologist Alan Walter from his time at The Brakes Bar: "Magnolia Got Your Tongue?: The Brakes Bar is a portal to a place you know, but haven't tasted"] 

The enduring intrigue of speakeasies stands alongside the ingenuity we associate with the craft cocktail movement, both of which we owe to Prohibition in the 1920s and ‘30s. The difficulty of obtaining wine and beer encouraged innovation in mixology, introducing added sweeteners like honey, fruit juices, and flavorings to mask the inferior taste of bathtub gin. Tropical Tiki drinks were all the rage in the 1940s, with rum-based beverages like the mai tai, zombie, and New Orleans’s own hurricane. The afternoon cocktail hour became a suburban home ritual in the 1950s with the introduction of mass-produced commercial liquor. Despite the James Bond-influenced martini trend of the sixties (“shaken not stirred”)—cocktails declined in popularity through the 1970s. Our most recent fascination with craft cocktails emerged in the late 1980s and ‘90s, spurred by a handful of inventive mixologists in New York, who were inspired by the creativity of the past. The trend quickly spread to San Francisco and Chicago, and to New Orleans with the opening of Cure in 2009. 

Holding her own speakeasy-of-sorts at The Tipsy Librarian, Howell invited Walter to team up at an event that I was fortunate to attend. The appreciative audience included repeat customers from Howell’s classes—I met a woman and her daughter who told me they have attended five lessons so far; fans of Walter’s—more than one couple, including myself and my husband, confessed to having endowed him with handpicked produce in the past; neighbors and friends; and even a young woman who was departing for London early the next morning—she just didn’t want to miss the occasion. While everyone mingled and chatted, Howell and Walter performed their magic, producing one beautiful and imaginative cocktail after another, stirring our imaginations, and inspiring our palates. 

To book Walter at Sprezzatura, call or text  504-931-8071. Visit thetipsylibrarian.com to see Howell’s class offerings. 

Find recipes for The Tipsy Librarian's Amaretto Sour and Alan Walter's Cantaloupe Cocktail, here.