The Vieux Carré

is a signature cocktail of New Orleans’s Monteleone Hotel. A Manhattan variant, it was created in the 1930s by then–head bartender Walter Bergeron (1889–1947), who had worked at the bar before Prohibition and returned upon Repeal. Its recipe first appeared in print in 1937. The Vieux Carré (pronounced “VOO ka-RAY” in local New Orleans parlance) is named for the French Quarter, and the name translates as “old square.” Once nearly forgotten locally, even in the hotel where it was born, the Vieux Carré was saved from obscurity by the twenty-first-century cocktail renaissance. Rich, complex, elegant, and evocative, it is typically served on the rocks, but serving it up makes for a lovely presentation. See cocktail renaissance, Manhattan Cocktail.

*Recipe: Stir 30 ml each of straight rye whisky, cognac, and sweet vermouth, 5 ml Bénédictine DOM liqueur, and 2 dashes each of Angostura bitters and Peychaud’s Bitters with ice and strain into a large rocks glass over fresh ice. Garnish with lemon peel and a cherry.

Arthur, Stanley Clisby. New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘Em. New Orleans: Harmanson, 1937.

Haigh, Ted. Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails*. Beverly, MA: Quarry, 2009.

By: Chuck Taggart