These New Orleans Cocktails Are the Perfect Way to Start the Weekend

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These New Orleans Cocktails Are the Perfect Way to Start the Weekend

The happiest hour is the one in which you have your first drink of the day. For cocktail inspiration, we turn to former New Orleans speakeasy owner Ali Mills.
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The happiest hour is the one in which you have your first drink of the day. Winston Churchill legendarily (and perhaps apocryphally) started his morning with a glass of German white wine. Ironic, if you think about it.

We could all stand to take a page from history, even if it's not following in Churchill's footsteps. That's exactly what New Orleans bartender Ali Mills did at her former illegal bar and current legit one.

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RECIPE: The Mary Pickford Cocktail

For her Mary Pickford—inspired by the Canadian silent film actress who was considered America's sweetheart—Mills deftly blends white rum, maraschino, pineapple juice, lime, and grenadine into a twist on the daiquiri, a New Orleans favorite.

RECIPE: The Mousetrap Cocktail

For her Mousetrap, she went deep on some local lore: "This drink is named after a New Orleans grocery vendor who was shot in the St. Roch Market in 1900 after his wife and the next door vendor's wife got in a fight over a mousetrap," she says. Mills mixes white rum, maple pecan nut milk, and lime juice with dry Curaçao to capture this moment of domestic discord.

She doesn't mention where to source some maple pecan nut milk, but you probably shouldn't ask the grocer's wife.