Museum of the American Cocktail
Raising a Glass to the American Cocktail
By Su-Jit LinIt’s Friday and you’ve just gotten off from work. Your eyes are burning from a week’s worth of radiation from your monitor, your feet are aching for the freedom of flip-flops after being strapped into shiny leather, and you’re utterly exhausted and looking forward to unwinding into a blissful oblivion.
Or … it’s Friday, and you’re celebrating the upcoming two precious days of freedom, when you’ll have the option sleeping in while the sun rises ever higher in the sky, or going for that refreshing morning run you promised your bathing suit you’d take.
Either Friday calls for a cold glass of your favorite drink. Whether pouring a screwdriver or gin and tonic in the relaxing atmosphere of your cozy home or ordering a pitcher of margaritas, round of kamikaze shots, or sweet fuzzy navel during a raucous happy hour, you’ve just taken part in a great American tradition. Under examined for positive points and as taken for granted as the breeze off the levee, the cocktail is an underappreciated facet of our culture in many, many ways.
Well, the newly opened Southern Food and Beverage Museum on the Riverwalk has grand plans to change the way we look at this undervalued portion of our ritual. A new faction of the SoFAB called the Museum of the American Cocktail (or MoTAC, for short) will be unveiling a new exhibit that will revolutionize a visitor’s view of an important part of the relaxing portion of the average American’s day; it will open their eyes to the significance of the role the cocktail plays, not just in their stressful, hectic lives, but in the life of American history and culture.
The brainchild of museum curator Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh, this exhibit will be a thorough and intriguing scrutiny of all things related to your favorite drinks. Two centuries worth of artifacts have been carefully collected and each piece deeply researched to provide an in-depth background for the items displayed. Items of notable interest include vintage shakers to help the visitor trace the evolution of this handy invention, and literature stemming from the era of the hugely successful – for the rum-runners and the party scene – Prohibition, a time when a drop of spirit equaled a fist of defiance, raised high in the air. Not only that, but rare and interesting memorabilia from the private collections of the Founders of the MoTAC will take their proud places behind the velvet ropes and glass cases that house history.
The exhibit of the Museum of the American Cocktail will not be a passive one, either. Founding member Chris McMillian is, for one, excited about a monthly seminar series that will be offered at the MoTAC. His hope is that by featuring and inviting to New Orleans some of the best mixologists found worldwide, that they will “share their expertise with industry members and turn it into a worldwide resource for everyone in the industry,” spreading the knowledge and thereby spreading the wealth. For those unable to remain in New Orleans overlong, the Museum also offers seminars around the country in various other cities. Registration will be required for these fast-booked lectures, but that can be handled by paying the (usually) $45 fee via PayPal. This fee covers hors d’oeuvres and enough to drink that MoTAC’s website has posted a cautionary disclaimer requesting the attendee recruit a designated driver. Now that certainly sounds like an attractive way to educate yourself!
However, learning– though a top-of-the-list priority –is not the only thing the Museum’s board hopes to achieve. Founder Dale DeGroff states, “We plan to establish a major tourist attraction and educational institution in New Orleans that will become a valuable resource for professionals in the beverage industry while celebrating a wonderful piece of our American history.” With goals that echo many of the sentiments of Liz Williams, the founder of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, it’s little wonder that the two organizations have teamed up. Williams has said upon many an occasion that preserving, remembering, and analyzing food and drink is of the utmost importance, and aspires for SoFAB to become a reference point for both the curious and the connoisseur.
The location is absolutely perfect for driving traffic and preserving the MoTAC as a tourist attraction, in keeping with DeGroff’s aim of becoming a hot visitor destination. Since the exhibit is housed in SoFAB, which is housed in the Riverwalk Mall (easily walkable from the French Quarter and Convention Center, as well as parts of the Warehouse District), which is already a high volume area, it seems that everything is aligning perfectly and going swimmingly before the ribbon is cut and the doors officially open for the Museum of the American cocktail on July 21st at 10:30 am.