Cure isn’t just a bar, it’s a force, leading the way to transform Freret into a dining and entertainment destination and raising the craft cocktail bar for all. Farm to bar seasonal ingredients drive the bus here, with an ever-changing and evolving menu of new drinks to sample. The team also does a great job on the classics, and their Old Fashioned (and variations) showcases and simplifies the iconic cocktail. Try the extra baller O.F. with Wild Turkey Master’s Keep, demerara sugar, and two kinds of bitters.

In his new book Cocktail Dive Bar, T. Cole Newton explains that this vintage cocktail inspired the name of his bar. Twelve miles is the distance from the coast till reaching international waters, which figured prominently in the Prohibition era rum running racket. Twelve Mile Limit makes a dangerously drinkable cocktail with rum, whiskey, brandy, grenadine, and lemon juice.

There are 100 places in Orleans parish where you can get a Sazerac (and probably a dozen where you can get a really good one). But this low-lit, throwback swanky bar in the Roosevelt Hotel is so devoted to the iconic New Orleans cocktail that it's named for it. The Sazerac Bar tops the list.

Bourbon punch is a popular brunch drink alternative to the ubiquitous Bloody Mary, and the Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House version is served with ice cream as an ingredient. There’s a coconut milk-forward vegan version too.

The original version of this cocktail, for which the bar of Arnaud's is named, contains gin as its main ingredient. French 75 counters that the New Orleans version should have Cognac, since that's a French spirit and gin is not. You'll get it with Cognac here.

Created at the Old Absinthe House in the 1860s, this simple absinthe cocktail is as refreshing and flavorful as it ever was. In fact, the bar was known as the Absinthe Room after the cocktail was created, which eventually became the Old Absinthe House.

The Monteleone Hotel’s revolving Carousel Bar offers a cocktail menu that might as well be a master class of iconic drinks. Most notably, the Vieux Carre was invented here back in the 1930s, combining whiskey, cognac, vermouth, Benedictine, and bitters and paying homage to the neighborhood from which it sprung.

New Orleans debauchery can take its toll. If your hung-over corpse needs reviving, head to the bar at Compere Lapin, an oasis of sanity in a city where excess is the baseline. Chef Nina Compton’s terrific barkeeps shake up an exquisite balance of gin, Cointreau, Lillet blanc, citrus, and dash of absinthe. Popularized in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock, think of this classic cocktail as a lemon drop with a Ph.D. 

Bloody Mary cocktails are starting to crash and burn under all the garnishes that restaurant places on them to make their stand out from the thousands of others available in the city. At the quintessential New Orleans fine-dining breakfast restaurant, the garnishes are kept to the classic New Orleans pickled okra and pickled green bean. Brennan’s mix is spicy and complex, and this deceptively simple version of the breakfast classic cocktail is a pleasure to drink any time of the day.

Antoine’s has been doing all kinds of things right for 180 years — and this flaming spiced coffee drink may just top the list. The fifth generation family owned grand dame off Bourbon offers diners a show with dinner, as waiters make cafe brulot in special copper cooking bowl and ladle, the smell of coffee, brandy and sparking citrus creating an irresistible after dinner treat.

Although throwing back one (or more) hand grenades will surely lead to questionable decision making, the distinctively shaped plastic cups are ubiquitous on Bourbon Street. Tropical Isle put the drink on the map during the ill fated 1984 World’s Fair — the hand grenade was the fair’s biggest success.

This cool, refreshing drink was made for the warm days and day drinking tendencies of New Orleans residents and visitors. The Napoleon House has served them for so long, that the drink is synonymous with the bar.

It’s always a good time at Latitude 29, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s bar and eatery in the French Quarter. Berry has dedicated his life to recreating classic tiki recipes and concocting his own drinks that pay homage to the genre. The Zombie is the gold standard of tiki cocktails — go here to get a spot on version.

The New Orleans-Cuba connection is in sharp relief at Manolito, another French Quarter cocktail haven from the James Beard Award winning Chris Hannah. All of the blended drinks are superb, as is the fum-fueled Flordita daiquiri invented at El Floridita bar in Havana by Constante Ribalaigua.

The frozen Irish coffee is a go-to hangover cure and cooling treat for wandering the Quarter on a steamy day. While the Erin Rose also serves a great version, the Monahans have put the drink on the map, serving it not only at Molly's at the Market but also Junction in the Bywater.