The casual craft cocktail trend has been picking up steam since Cole Newton opened Twelve Mile Limit, a high-level cocktail bar where the vast majority of drinks were $6-7 and cheaper during happy hour. There’s a story behind that one too,” she said. And that’s what I try to do with all the bartenders - I have amazing bartenders here, they’re incredible. “I want everyone involved in the cocktail-creation process. That result, along with paying homage to the wit and wisdom of her now-deceased mother, is the reason that Lauren encourages her staff to have fun and create memorable drinks that lead to memorable interactions. The unusual names, like Ma’am, Don’t Be Hysterical, or Fred’s in the Well, pretty much guarantee a conversation between bartender and guest. So I start with a story and go from there, the cocktail around that.” She was a writer and a great storyteller. “All of them are inspired by my mom, actually. “I come from a long line of storytellers,” Lauren said right off the bat. Nora McGunnigle/ThrillistĮvery cocktail created at Turkey and the Wolf has to have a name with a story behind it. The woman behind the bar at Turkey and the Wolf, who makes seriously excellent cocktails without (God forbid) taking herself seriously at all, the lady that personifies the intersection of fun, food, and hooch, New Orleans’ bartender of the year… Lauren Holton. This still led to several contenders, but the instant popularity and New Orleans zeitgeist of Turkey and the Wolf - a sandwich shop-meets-high-quality stoner-food joint - made the case that the super-casual craft cocktail scene is here to stay. The decision for bartender of the year was made using three criteria: 1) taking a cocktail trend in the city and making it his or her own 2) someone who has previously not received much press and/or acclaim and 3) being a general badass with both cocktail and hospitality skills. And they’ve all been recognized time and again by local, national, and international press. There are so many more world-class bartenders that could go on that list. Cole Newton, the wunderkind who built a bar that would pave the way for the casual craft cocktail movement in this city. There’s also pre-Prohibition cocktail master Chris McMillian, who now has his own place, Revel Cafe and Bar Kimberly Patton-Bragg, the tough redhead with a soft spot for bourbon and tequila, who just opened a new location of Three Muses Uptown on Maple St the team of Neal Bodenheimer, Kirk Estopinal, and Nick Detrich who created the groundbreaking modern cocktail bar Cure and the “proto-Tiki” delights of Cane & Table or T.
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The New Orleans bar scene is full of bartending and mixology celebrities: Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, the industry’s preeminent Tiki expert Paul Gustings, who has worked for decades behind some of the French Quarter’s best-known bars or Abigail Gullo, who moved here from NYC and made her mark with her tremendous cocktail programs at SoBou and Compére Lapin. In a city of star bartenders, how do we choose one to be New Orleans’ bartender of the year?
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