The American Cocktail is finally getting the recognition it deserves, in its own museum in the city where it was first created: New Orleans. The Museum of the American Cocktail will be located in the New Orleans River walk in conjunction with the Southern Food & Beverage Museum. The grand opening is Monday, July 21st at the Riverwalk Marketplace, following the conclusion of the 6th annual Tales of the Cocktail festival.
Clubplanet spoke with Robert Hess, one of the founders for the museum, for some more information about the American Cocktail as well as the Museum.
Clubplanet: Are you affiliated with New Orleans, or just with the love of the American cocktail?
Robert Hess: With the love of the American cocktail and specifically with New Orleans as well. I am located in Seattle and we get together in New Orleans periodically and meet, share ideas and thoughts about the cocktail.
CP: When did the idea of this museum start?
Robert Hess: In 2004 we got together to discuss the possibility of forming a museum. Things happened really quickly and by January 2005 we had the museum up and running in the French quarter. We ran a temporary location. We knew we were only there for a year and were planning on moving out in September to get a more permanent location. Then Katrina hit, so we had to move out and go into storage for a short time. We ran into problems trying to find a more permanent room down there. We moved to Las Vegas where Commander’s Palace allowed us to set up the exhibit in one of their big banquet rooms and had the exhibit there for a while until Planet Hollywood came in and bought out that facility. We went back into storage again to find another location in New Orleans.
CP: What made you decide to use the Riverwalk Marketplace to house the museum?
Robert Hess: We’ve been looking at a number of different facilities around New Orleans and we knew we wanted to be close to the French Quarter because we felt that that was a very key spot, not only for the tourist aspect of it, because we want to make sure the people coming to New Orleans have access to information like that. We also felt the French Quarter really took in and upheld the culinary traditions of the cocktail. That was very important to us. After different spots we teamed up with the Southern Food and Beverage Museum to work with them on putting together a museum. They located a spot in the Riverwalk Hall. We worked carefully with them to get our installation to be a part of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.
CP: How do you think the Museum will impact the economy for the Riverwalk?
Robert Hess: We think this is a very key location for re-energizing. The Riverwalk is a tourist location being close to the Convention Center, on the French Quarter, and with all of the cruise boats coming through there so we think the dynamics are really nice right there, the Riverwalk needs a couple of things to actually bring the people and we believe that with The Museum of the American Cocktail museum we will be able to bring them in as part of that functionality.
CP: What’s the definition of a “cocktail” according to the museum?
Robert Hess: Therein lies the reason why we need a museum to help people understand this process! The difference between a martini, a cocktail and a mixed drink can be very, very confusing. Originally a cocktail, in 1806, was defined as spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters. Back in those days drinks didn’t have names, per se. You didn’t go and order a Manhattan or a screwdriver or order a fuzzy navel. The cocktail got its start in around 1806 from that stand point. It evolved over time, eventually coming to the point where we have things such as Manhattans and martinis, which don’t have any sugars, but they do still have bitters. The cocktail, for the first 100 years or so, by definition has always had a dash of bitters. Post-prohibition was when we ran into problems, when people really didn’t understand what a cocktail was much less a quality-made mixed drink. That is why today people think that any drink served in a cocktail glass, those V-shaped glasses, is called a martini, when a martini is a very specific drink with a specific recipe and ingredients. A cocktail is a drink that is served chilled, has a mixture of different ingredients, a spirit and hopefully has some culinary value.
CP: Why do you think the museum will be so special for the history of New Orleans?
Robert Hess: I don’t think anybody can disagree that New Orleans has a long history of drinking culture, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Our role is to take New Orleans as a focal point, as people are interested in having a drink in one of the famous cocktail bars in the French Quarter and coming to that museum with that interest and providing them the education, history and respect for the cocktail. A lot of New Orleans history is also wrapped around a particular cocktail known as the Sazerac, which was named the city’s official cocktail. There are some stories of how the Sazerc is the very first cocktail. Unfortunately, the timeline did not fit that story, but it was one of the early cocktails which was very famous down in the French Quarter.
CP: What are the plans for opening a museum for New York City?
Robert Hess: We have a bar in New York City that is working on building a separate bar area and in that area to be focused on historic cocktails, and we were thinking about doing a small exhibit there too, to provide more historical backgrounds for this particular bar. Work is still underway.
CP: What is your favorite cocktail?
Robert Hess: That’s like asking a parent what their favorite child is! I have a number of favorite drinks. The Sazerac is on the top of my list. One drink that is really good that I wish people would understand how to make it properly is the Old fashioned. It is a common drink that every bartender thinks they know how to make properly but few actually execute it in a way that does it justice.