MOTAC in the News


"On the Town" with the king of cocktails

May 21, 2012
: Dale DeGroff, aka the King of Cocktails, is partly responsible for bringing America into the world of finely crafted cocktails. Seth Doane first met him when "Sunday Morning" celebrated the cocktail renaissance, and now, the cocktail king has blended a collection of saloon songs and well turned recipes into a barroom treat called "On The Town."; (more...)

Best Of Dining 2011
New Orleans Bartender of the Year - Chris McMillian

December 2011
Tim McNally: If there are stories you want, then stories you will most certainly get. Do you want to hear about the colorful history of this city? Do you want to know about how certain cocktails came to be invented? Are you interested in why fresh ingredients are better than mixes? You should speak with bartender Chris McMillian at Bar UnCommon in the Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel in the Central Business District.; (more...)


Celebrate World Cocktail Week!

April 2011
: World Cocktail Week® was established in order to help broaden understanding and appreciation for the cocktail and its historical and culinary significance throughout the world. It will be celebrated this year from May 6 – 13th , 2011 with fundraising events planned in cities around the world. The WCW fundraiser also serves to increase our membership, raise much needed revenue for our year-round operating, and enables us to produce our popular Monday Mixology Series.; (more...)

Bar Notes
Repeal Day Ball

December, 2009
Leo Borovskiy and Lindsey Johnson: (more...)

Featured Events
VIDEO: World Cocktail Week Australia 2009

July 31st, 2009
: Celebrating 4 years of World Cocktail Week in Australia, the industry witnessed Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne hosting celebrations supported by SIGNÉ in conjunction with Yakusan. Follow the adventures of Ben Davidson and Mark Ward throughout World Cocktail Week 2009 around Australia with the ultimate Ramos Gin Fizz.; (more...)

All Things Considered
Drinks After Hemingway's Own Heart

July 26, 2009
: If Hemingway were throwing a celebration for his 110th birthday, it's a sure bet that the festivities would include a hefty dose of spirits. Phil Greene, of the Museum of the American Cocktail, meets us at a watering hole in downtown Washington, D.C., to tell us about the drinks Hemingway wrote about, especially a unique version of a frozen daiquiri. Fittingly enough, the drink is both strong and tart.; (more...)

Videos Published on Facebook
Vintage Barware at MOTAC

July 26, 2009
Lush Live Productions: This is a video from the "Vintage Barware Symposium" that was held at The Museum of the American Cocktail a part of this years Tales of the Cocktail event.; (more...)

Food & Think
How to Toast Hemingway’s 110th Birthday

July 21st 2009
Amanda Bensen: If Ernest Hemingway were around to celebrate his 110th birthday today, his party would no doubt involve a staggering amount of alcohol. He was a renowned writer—with more than a dozen books and a Nobel Prize in Literature to his credit by the time he ended his own life in 1961—and he was an equally renowned drinker.; (more...)

Blog Posts
World Cocktail Week in NYC

May 14th, 2009
Lindsey Johnson: A video montage of the festivities held at Pranna in New York City. Includes Dale DeGroff, Aisha Sharpe, Julie Reiner, Audrey Saunders, David Wondrich, Misty Kalkofen, Charlotte Voisey, Gary Regan, Simon Ford, Tomas Delos Rayes, and a cast of thousands.; (more...)

Commercial Appeal | Travel
Get Outta Town: Stir up fun, shake on over to Big Easy for cocktails

Sunday, May 10th, 2009
Sally Walker Davies: Happy World Cocktail Week! Yes, it seems there's a week to celebrate everything, and through Wednesday, it is the cocktail. And what better place to celebrate cocktails than New Orleans? In fact, the Big Easy is home to the Museum of the American Cocktail -- who knew? -- that explores the history of drinks in America, offers exhibits of antique and modern-day cocktail gadgets and equipment, and presents mixology seminars for those looking to improve their techniques.; (more...)

USA Today | Travel | Destinations
Get into the mix for World Cocktail Week

May 2009
Kelly Carter: Today's cocktails have an abundance of fresh ingredients. With the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans celebrating World Cocktail Week from May 6-13...; (more...)

Around The Hill
Small Plates: Drinking Up For a Good Cause

May 6, 2009
Alison McSherry: Bars all over town will be pouring their best drinks this week in honor of World Cocktail Week. Beginning today and running through May 13, bars and restaurants around the world, including establishments in New York, Washington, D.C., and Sydney, will pour drinks in an effort to raise money for the Museum of the American Cocktail located in New Orleans. In addition to fundraising, World Cocktail Week is meant to educate drinkers on the art of the cocktail and give them a chance to meet some of the more talented bartenders in town.; (more...)

The Smithsonian: Food & Think
Did New Orleans Invent the Cocktail?

February 24, 2009
Amanda Bensen: Ask most people where the cocktail was invented, and they’ll probably guess New Orleans, something the city itself wants you to believe. The story goes that a fellow named Antoine Peychaud opened an apothecary shop in New Orleans’ French quarter in the 1830s, and sold his own homemade bitters. Before long, he realized that these bitters tasted especially good mixed with cognac, sugar and water. He measured out this concoction with an egg cup (called a “coquetier” in French—some believe this is the basis for the term “cocktail”), and so the modern cocktail was born.; (more...)

Weekend Travel
Get a Discount in New Orleans

November 6th, 2008
Noah Rothbaum: The Museum of the American Cocktail reopened last July inside the Southern Food & Beverage Museum after a Katrina-related displacement. In addition to exhibits on absinthe and celebrity bartenders, mixologists are performing demonstrations throughout the fall. On December 8, Tony Abou-Ganim, who used to run all the bars at the Bellagio Hotel and has been both a competitor and a judge on Iron Chef, will prepare classic holiday drinks.; (more...)

Art & Design
New Orleans Is Proud to Put Its Long, Complex Past on Display

August 15, 2008
Edward Rothstein: NEW ORLEANS — Now that many museums are no longer imagined as repositories for cherished objects, they are becoming repositories of cherished identities, chronicling the ways we like to imagine ourselves or portray ourselves to others. They have always been declarations of pride: look what we have made! Look what we have collected! Now they are declarations of our self-images: look at what we have been! Look at what we seek to be!; (more...)

Eating and Drinking
For Summer, Cocktails Get Freshened Up

July 2, 2008
Nick Passmore: If anyone is in any doubt about the continued rise, and rise, of the cocktail phenomenon in American culture, or at least in those parts of it where the consumption of liquor is taken seriously, he need only consider the recent announcement that the Museum of the American Cocktail will open the doors of its "spectacular" new home in New Orleans this July. Can a Cocktail Hall of Fame be far behind?; (more...)

Forum with Michael Krasny
Cocktail Renaissance

July 1, 2008
Hosted by John Myers: Bartenders are emphasizing fresh ingredients and reviving forgotten favorites, while boutique distillers are gaining attention for locally produced vodka, gin and even absinthe. With San Francisco emerging as one of the epicenters of this trend, we discuss modern mixology. Guests: - Dale DeGroff, master mixologist and author of "The Craft of The Cocktail" - H. Ehrmann, proprietor of Elixir, a bar in San Francisco's Mission District and founder of Cocktailambassadors.com - Ted Haigh, author of "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails" and curator of the museum of the American Cocktail, also known as Dr. Cocktail; (more...)

AP Louisiana News
Cocktail museum shakes and stirs history

July 1, 2008
Mary Foster: NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In New Orleans, cocktails are serious business. What better town for a temple to the tasty history of the American libation?; (more...)

Spirits
World Cocktail Week Celebrated at Proof in Washington DC

June, 2008
Garret Peck: Launched in 2006, World Cocktail Week celebrates the anniversary of cocktail's first print appearance in 1806. Many cities have begun their own World Cocktail Week celebrations, but this year none were more enthusiastic about the event than Washington DC, home to a budding cocktail culture.; (more...)

Ellen Across America
Local Libations

October 2007
Heather Muse: It was about 200 years ago that thirsty people looking for a good time first started mixing up cocktails. But no one is quite sure how the term was coined (hey, it was a long time ago). According to The Museum of the American Cocktail, the term may have first been used in The Balance and Columbian Repository newspaper in which the editor wrote, "Cock tail, then is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters it is vulgarly called a bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head." Of course, today, there are thousands of head-fuddling recipes, but some of the most enduring and famous drinks are ones named after (or deeply associated with) specific places. Check out this list of cocktails and our suggestions the best places to order them (not all at once, please).; (more...)

FOXLIFE
Tipplers Toast the Cocktail on Its 200th 'Anniversary'

May 22, 2006
Sara Bonisteel: May marks the 200th anniversary of the mixed drink, or at least the first published definition of the mixed drink. And though martinis and cosmos can be found in bars from London to Tokyo, it turns out the cocktail is as American as apple pie.; (more...)

A LA CARTER
Raising a glass to the cocktail

May 17, 2006
Sylvia Carter: Imagine walking around a museum while sipping a well-chilled dry martini. The current New York City exhibit of The Museum of the American Cocktail is one show where such behavior is not only permitted, it is encouraged. The exhibit, in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the cocktail, opened on Saturday night at The Balance, a space above a club called The Nest, at 215 W. 28th St. at Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. Some of New York's top bartenders mixed Rob Roys, Manhattans, Aviations and more modern drinks.; (more...)

RESTAURANTS
Bicentennial, On the Rocks

May 15, 2006
Robin Raisfeld & Rob Patronite: Get out your swizzle sticks: May 13 marks the 200th anniversary of the cocktail—or at least the first recorded mention of the word. And to celebrate, you can visit the Museum of the American Cocktail, the new New York satellite of a high-spirited institution that opened in New Orleans and currently resides in Las Vegas. This modest hub of cocktail geekiness—think musty books, vintage shakers, and witty tributes to barmen and saloons of yore—is ensconced on the second floor of Balance, a nightclub in Chelsea, and curated by cocktail historian David Wondrich, who took a break from his scholarly pursuits to enlighten us on the cocktail’s exalted past and promising future.; (more...)

An ISANTE Exclusive Story
Historic New Orleans Cocktails

May 2006
Garrett Peck: Museum founding member Phil Greene led the evening’s festivities, mixing drinks while reciting cocktail lore and telling stories about Antoine Peychaud, the inventor of Peychaud’s Bitters, an indispensable ingredient for the Sazerac, perhaps the Big Easy’s most famous cocktail.

National News
Bottoms Up: The Cocktail Turns 200

May 13, 2006
Associated Press: Spearheaded by the Museum of the American Cocktail, parties across the United States, as well as in Europe and Australia, will honor the various delicious, and often intoxicating, cocktails of the past and present.; (more...)

AFTER FIVE
Our kind of tipple has turned 200

May 7, 2006
Linda Barnard: Yesterday was the 200th anniversary of the cocktail. And while the concoctions doubtless existed far earlier than the name, May 6, 1806, marks the first time the word appeared in print — in a newspaper, of course, as befits our hard-drinking, ink-stained heritage.; (more...)

FOOD
Perfecting the art of the cocktail

April 26, 2006
Susan LaTempa: RIGHT now, we're in a golden age of American cocktails. More and more, bartenders at the best lounges and bars are offering lists of aperitifs, small-plates drinks and after-dinner drinks that sparkle with sophistication and creativity. And the cocktails created by some of the mixologists involved in the Museum of the American Cocktail are among the best. One frequently cited jumping-off point for even these most modern of cocktails is the classics.; (more...)

FOOD
The golden age of cocktails

April 26, 2006
Jenny Hontz: LAS VEGAS -- The name itself evokes the clink of ice in a glass. So it may seem fitting that a museum celebrating the history of the cocktail has just moved into town. And really, the location couldn't be better. Visitors to the Museum of the American Cocktail can sip a classic or cutting-edge drink as they check out the collection of historical cocktail memorabilia, because exhibits are on display in a room at Commander's Palace restaurant in Aladdin Resort & Casino.; (more...)

CULTURE
Mixology course stirs the spirits

July 25, 2005
RON GIVENS: Teach people how to fish, and they can feed themselves for a lifetime. But on a hot, muggy day, striped bass won't quench your thirst. For that, you need a cocktail expert to teach you how to shake it like a Polaroid picture.
Last week, with the temperature and humidity both oozing past the 90 mark, a group of 27 people gathered at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in midtown to learn how to turn out killer drinks.; (more...)

duly noted

Liberal Libations

A Master Mixologist Gives His Tips On Creating the Perfect Summer Sip

July 25th, 2005

SARA BONISTEEL

Mixologist and former Windows on the World head bartender George Delgado knows the good from the great. "A good bartender can make a drink by the recipe consistently," he says. "A great bartender can tweak the recipe ever so much for whomever he’s making the drink.

Delgado shared his wisdom last week at the Museum of the American Cocktail’s first summer seminar, "Tomorrow’s Classics: Creating Your Own Cocktails." The event gave drink enthusiasts an opportunity to mix a drink like a professional.

Mixing a drink, Delgado says, is more than following a recipe. Good bartenders know their ingredients and how they’ll play off one another in a cocktail. That means ditching store-bought mixers for fresh squeezed juices and choosing not to scrimp on the alcohols that you use for that special kick. Fresh-fruit garnishes and proper drinking glasses also add to the visual appeal.


The 2005 Press Kit of The Museum Of The American Cocktail

July, 2005
: A collection (4mb PDF File) of various articles and stories clipped from newspapers across the nation.; (more...)

CL RECOMMENDS
Cocktail Culture

Spring 2005
Laura Vogel: New Orleans boasts a treasure trove of cocktail history. America’s first mixed drink, the Sazerac, was invented in the French Quarter in the l830s. One of the oldest bars in the country, Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, circa 1770, still exists on Bourbon Street. And to this day, a "go"-cup of hurricane cocktails can be found clutched in the hand of most every Mardi Gras celebrant. Famed mixologist Dale DeGroff (aka King of Cocktails, who has shaken and stirred at New York’s Rainbow Room and Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle Hotel) recently decided to make this official with the opening of the Museum of the American Cocktail. It charts the 200-year history of liquor in America with vintage bartending books, cocktail shakers, and barware, and features rotating exhibits and special events by top mixologists. Temporary home is at the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, 514 Chartres St., www.museumoftheamerican cocktail.org

Drinks, Etc.
Cocktail Culture

March 2005
Andrew Knowlton: No disrespect to baseball, but when it comes to American icons, well take the cocktail. Honoring its place in history, The Museum of the American Cocktail opened this year in New Orleans, the birthplace of the cocktail as we know it. The permanent collection features rare books, vintage shakers, and other memorabilia. Co-founder and mixologist Dale DeGroff will team up with local bars to host an ongoing series of classes and seminars, Also, the museum will publish a quarterly journal, Mixologist: The Journal of the American Cocktail, for armchair tipplers. Good news, because unlike most masterpieces, the cocktail is a work of art we can all re-create. (514 Chartres Street in the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum)


All You Can Eat!

March 11, 2005
with Bob & Lorin Gaudin of New Orleans Magazine: Guests: Matt Murphy, Chef de Cuisine – Victor’s Grill; Phil Green, Co-Founder – Museum of the American Cocktail; (more...)

TRAVEL
Cocktail history shaken and stirred
New museum delves into higher mixology
February 28, 2005
Associated Press: NEW ORLEANS -- Start with hundreds of antique liquor bottles. Add Art Deco cocktail shakers, vintage swizzle sticks and Tiki cups. Mix well. Serve inside an 1823 French Quarter town house.
The result: The Museum of the American Cocktail.; (more...)

Weekend Edition - Saturday
New Museum Charts the History of the Cocktail

February 26, 2005
Scott Simon: A passionate coalition of bartenders is establishing the world's first museum devoted exclusively to high balls, low balls, fizzes and other mixed drinks.
The Museum of the American Cocktail now occupies space inside the Pharmacy Museum in New Orleans. It traces the American cocktail from its birth in the early 19th century through its "golden age" in the early 20th century, up to its revival in the 1990s.; (more...)

RESTAURANTS & FOOD
New Orleans museum traces the history of the American cocktail

February 22, 2005
Doug Simpson (Associated Press): NEW ORLEANS -- Start with hundreds of antique liquor bottles. Add Art Deco cocktail shakers, vintage swizzle sticks and Tiki cups. Mix well. Serve inside an 1823 French Quarter town house.
The result: The Museum of the American Cocktail.; (more...)

TRAVEL
New Orleans Is Stirred, Not Shaken, by a New Cocktail Museum

Sunday, January 23, 2005
Wayne Curtis: Two blocks from the nonstop frat party of Bourbon Street, a more genteel form of social drinking is explored at the new Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans. "We want to show the cocktail in the light it should be shown in," said Dale DeGroff, one of the museum founders. "Not as a way to misbehave, but as a way to behave.; (more...)


Museum News Magazine

January/February 2005
: Brimming with beignets, pO- boys, and crayfish, New Orleans builds on its Epicurean flair with the addition of three new museums. As the purported birthplace of the American cocktail, New Orleans is a fitting home for the Museum of the American Cocktail, which opens in a temporary space in the French Quarter's Pharmacy Museum in early January. The museum's extensive collection of rare books, vintage cocktail shakers, gadgets, memorabilia, and Prohibition-era literature and music will find a permanent home in September 2005.

FOOD STUFF
Rich and Illustrious History of Booze

Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Florence Fabricant: After a preliminary introduction in Las Vegas a couple of months ago, the Museum of the American Cocktail is set to open tomorrow in New Orleans. Its displays will cover cocktail history and milestones, like the first time the term was used in print to refer to a mixed alcoholic drink, in 1806. The museum will occupy the second floor of the Pharmacy Museum, in a 19th-century building at 514 Chartres Street in the French Quarter.
New Orleans is the home of cultured drinking — think of the Sazerac, the pousse-café, the Ramos gin fizz — but you could also have done it in New York or San Francisco," said Dale DeGroff, a founder and the president of this nonprofit institution, which eventually hopes to find a permanent home. In addition to exhibits of cocktail shakers and such, the museum also plans monthly seminars and classes.; (more...)


Home of the cocktail
Traveling exhibit hopes to settle down in the Crescent City
Friday, January 07, 2005
Pableaux Johnson: Some people look at a well-poured cocktail and see the obvious -- a drink that satisfies a thirst, pleases the taste buds and takes the edge off a long day at work.
Ted Haigh can gaze into the same glass and see 200 years of history.; (more...)


What's Cooking?
New schools, food museums are on tap for 2005
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Judy Walker: Jan. 12: Wednesday, the Museum of the American Cocktail will have its grand opening above the Pharmacy Museum, 514 Chartres St. One of the founders, Seattle resident Robert Hess, whose drinkboy.com chat room is one of the origination points for the concept, said the exhibits were developed by a Hollywood set designer and the collections are "extraordinary."; (more...)


New Orleans will be the site of The Museum of the American Cocktail

January 3, 2005
: Guest: Dale De Groff, Founder of the Museum and Joe Gendusa, Tour Guide - Southern Comfort Cocktail Tour; (more...)

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The Museum in the News