Holiday Cocktails in the French Quarter and Nearby

Holiday Cocktails French Quarter

New Orleans is rife with culinary traditions — over 300 years’ worth of them. One of those wonderful traditions is Reveillon. For a few years now the increasing number of restaurants (over 60 last year) is participating in bringing special Reveillon menus to the table.

Alongside the turtle soups, the oysters, and the foie gras some of the best restaurants in the city are also happily serving festive cocktails. Each year local bartenders create both classic and original cocktails to celebrate the Reveillon with holiday-themed sippers. Some of those are offered as lagniappe on the Reveillon menus, others can be enjoyed as a standalone.

Here are the highlights of the most enticing concoctions for this holiday season in and around the French Quarter, plus the most dazzlingly festive bars to enjoy your holiday-themed cocktails.

Holiday sippers for Reveillon
A handful of local restaurants that offer a multi-course, prix fixe Reveillon menu throw in a holiday-themed specialty cocktail as lagniappe. Vacherie’s deliciously decadent four-course Reveillon menu is once again complemented with Poinsettia, a sparkling wine cranberry cocktail. The Pelican Club’s four-course Reveillon menu includes bourbon-spiked egg nog, and Gumbo Shop serves up café brûlot, the always exciting crowd-pleaser.

Standalone standouts
These holiday cocktails aren’t part of the Reveillon menu and can all be enjoyed as a standalone treat. Stop by anytime at The Bombay Club for its classic and delicious brandy milk punch. The X-MAS Old Fashioned at NOSH is a Christmasey concoction of Maker’s Mark, cranberry simple syrup, cranberries, a sprig of rosemary, and bitters, with an orange twist.

Galatoire’s 33 Bar and Steak’s Juniper Tree cannot get more refreshingly festive with gin, grenadine, orange bitters, and lime juice. Another special, called Wreath of Holly, is a delicious concoction of brandy, milk punch and crème de menthe. To fight the chill, such as it is in New Orleans, the traditional aged Creole eggnog at the Rib Room is just the thing.

Happy holiday sipping!