New Year’s Comfort
Did you know that Southern Comfort was created in New Orleans? The popular bourbon style whiskey was first produced by Irish bartender Martin Wilkes Heron (1850–1920), the son of a boat-builder. Legend says it was created and sold at McCauley’s Tavern at the corner of Richard and St. Peter Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. However, St. Peter Street and Richard Street do not intersect there. Richard Street on the other hand, does intersect with S. Peters Street in the Lower Garden District about a mile upstream on the Mississippi River.
Heron moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1889, patented his creation, and began selling it in sealed bottles with the slogan “None Genuine But Mine” and “Two per customer. No Gentleman would ask for more.” Southern Comfort won the gold medal at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.
An 1871 rendering of “A Home On the Mississippi” was commissioned by the U.S. government as part of a documentary program on the Mississippi River. The scene is an original work by Alfred Waud depicting Woodland Plantation in West Pointe à la Hache, Louisiana, not far from New Orleans. The image first achieved notability when it published as a chromolithograph by Currier and Ives. When prohibition ended, Currier and Ives licensed the image to the makers of Southern Comfort whom continue to use the image on their liquor labels today.
Enjoy this cocktail libation at holiday time, or any time.
Ingredients:
1 cup white rum
1 cup Southern Comfort
1/4 cup Cherry Schnapps
1 cup grenadine or raspberry syrup
1/4 cup orange juice
2 cups crushed ice
1/2 cup raspberries or strawberries
Instructions:
Blend ingredients for three to four minutes and pour into tall cocktail glass. Garnish with fresh berries and orange wedge.
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