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iVisit.... NOLA

  • NOLA Roman Road 107 Roman Rd London, E2 0QN United Kingdom (map)

BORN FROM AN OVERDUE IDEA...

Folks say this had been a long time in the making, seeing as they've been involved in almost every capacity within the hospitality industry. Through this network we've been fortunate to recruit some of the industry's top talent to share our vision; bringing an authentic New Orleans inspired bar and restaurant to London... Truth of the matter is, we're just happy to serve some great food and drinks from a great bar for some great people and we hope ya'll join us.

THE FIRST BAR ANYWHERE OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA TO BE AWARDED 'THE SEAL OF THE SAZERAC' BY THE NEW ORLEANS CULINARY & CULTURAL PRESERVATION SOCIETY (NOCCPS)

The Importance of the Sazerac Cocktail. Named for the Sazerac de Forge et Fils brand of cognac that was its original prime ingredient; sometimes called the oldest cocktail in America with it's origins dating from pre-civil war.

New Orleans, LA. circa 1850: Sewell T. Taylor sold his bar, The Merchants Exchange Coffee House, and went into the imported liquor business. He began to import a brand of cognac named Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils. At the same time, Aaron Bird took over the Merchants Exchange and changed its name to the Sazerac House and began serving the "Sazerac Cocktail", made with Taylor's Sazerac cognac and, as legend has it, the bitters being made down the street by a local druggist, Antoine Amedie Peychaud. The Sazerac House changed hands several times and around 1870 Thomas Handy took over as proprietor. Around this time the primary ingredient changed from cognac to rye whiskey due to the phylloxera epidemic in Europe that devastated France's wine grape crops.  At some point before his death in 1889, Handy recorded the recipe for the cocktail, and the drink made its first printed appearance in William T. "Cocktail Bill" Boothby's 1908, The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them though this recipe calls for Selner Bitters*, not Peychaud's.

Earlier Event: May 31
iVisit.... Purl London
Later Event: June 7
iVisit.... OXO Tower Wharf