New Orleans Pharmacists

New Orleans

Pharmacists

Lorin GaudinPhil Greene

Ted HaighJay Hendrickson

The Museum of the American Cocktail!Located in the Southern Food & Beverage Museum at theRiverwalk Marketplace:1 Poydras Street Su 169 (Julia Street entrance)New Orleans, LA 70130504-569-0405

Open Mon-Sat 10 to 7, Sun.12 to 6 $10.00 admission

The Museum of the American Cocktail, New Orleans, LA The Museum of the American Cocktail leads visitors through the

fascinating two hundred year history of the American Cocktail. With our main exhibit in New Orleans, The Museum of the American Cocktail contains a mind-boggling collection of rare spirits, books, Prohibition-era literature and music, vintage cocktail shakers, glassware, tools, gadgets and all manner of cocktail memorabilia and photographs from the outstanding collections of our founders and patrons. Larger-than-life reproductions enliven the presentation and beckon visitors into the subject.

The museum also features multimedia presentations that bring cocktail history to life with film clips, interactive displays, sounds, and songs.

Museum Gift Shop. Shop online at museumoftheamericancocktail.org/GiftShoppe/

Louis J. Dufilho, Jr., America’s 1st Licensed Pharmacist

In 1803, Dufilho was granted permission by the Cabildo to dispense drugs, and he operated his first pharmacy at 628 Toulouse Street. He sold this building in 1814 and moved to 514 Chartres Street, site of the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.

Licensing Provisions in Louisiana, the Registre du Comite Medical de la Nouvelle Orleans

During the Colonial period, Louisiana had laws regulating the practice of medicine far in advance of their times. From 1803 to 1812 the Territorial legislature enacted progressive laws governing medicine and pharmacy. An 1816 law provided for fines and imprisonment for anyone practicing medicine without a license, as a check on the rise of quackery.

The 1816 law established a medical licensing board consisting of four physicians and one apothecary in New Orleans. Its first activity was to record it activities faithfully for 36 years of its existence. It also acted as a State Board of Health. This record was known as the Registre du Comite Medical de la Nouvelle Orleans.

Prior to this law and before Louisiana became a U.S. State, there were some informal territory licensing measures, but none were enforced. A person could apprentice for six months and then compound and sell his or her own concoctions without any regulations or standards. The public received incorrect doses and erroneous medications. In 1816, Governor Claiborne established a board of reputable pharmacists and physicians to administer a three-hour oral examination given at the Cabildo in Jackson Square.

Louis J. Dufilho, Jr. was the first to pass the licensing examination, therefore making his pharmacy the first United States apothecary shop to be conducted on the basis of proven adequacy.

Selected bitters bottles found at New Orleans Pharmacy Museum

Popular 19th & early 20th century cocktail bitters

New Orleans Bee, March 1, 1859

From New Orleans Bee, March 1, 1859

New Orleans Bee, March, 1859

Antoine Amedee Peychaud, 1803-1883

Collier’s, 1940

Antoine Amedee Peychaud, Creole Pharmacist

Antoine and his sister Lasthenie “were saved from massacre in the insurrection of the slaves by their nurse, but in the panic of the moment the children became separated and the boy was brought to New Orleans. As he grew to manhood he never ceased to long for his sister and to search for her. At last he heard that she was living in Paris; he sent for her and had her brought to New Orleans. As the ship came up the river he stood on the levee waiting for her.

She was the first passenger to step on the plank and walk to the shore. As she did so, a gust of wind blew aside her skirt and revealed the most beautiful foot and ankle in the world - at least so thought a young man standing in the crowd to watch the ship arrive.

Creole Families of New Orleans, Grace King, 1921

My ancestors’ rich legacy…..

New Orleans Bee, July 5, 1832

New Orleans Bee, March 20, 1834

June 29, 1857

Antoine Peychaud Was the Inventor of the Cocktail!!

According to Stanley Clisby Arthur’s 1937 book, that is….

From Stanley Clisby Arthur’s 1937 Book, Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘Em

Peychaud’s Pharmacy, today – 437 Royal Street

Whiskey, Brandy or Gin Cocktails - New Orleans Style:

Two dashes of Boker’s, Angostura or Peychaud bitters - either will make a fine cocktail. One lump of sugar, one piece of lemon peel, one tablespoonful of water, one wine-glassful of liquor, etc., with plenty of ice. Stir well and strain into a cocktail glass.

Creole Cook Book - La Cuisine Creole, Lafcadio Hearn (1885, republished 1990, Pelican Publishing Co.), p. 248

Was Peychaud’s Coquetier the First “Cocktail?”

According to Stanley Clisby Arthur’s 1937 book, it was!

““Cock tail, then is a Cock tail, then is a stimulating liquor, stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water any kind, sugar, water and bitters it is vulgarly and bitters it is vulgarly called a bittered called a bittered sling….”sling….”

From Old New Orleans, by Stanley Clisby Arthur, 1944 edition

Stanley Clisby Arthur’s Revisionist History…

From Old New Orleans, 1944

From Famous New Orleans Cocktails, 1937

Stoughton’s Bitters

 Orange Peel, ground, 6 oz.  Gentian Root, ground, 8 oz.  Virginia Snake Root, ground, 1 ½ oz.  American Saffron, ground , ½ oz.  Red Saunders, ground , ½ oz.  Alcohol, 4 pints.  Water, 4 pints.

Mix, macerate fourteen days, filter, and add enough diluted alcohol to make one gallon.

Source: The Indian Household Medicine Guide, by J. I. Lighthall

To Make a Sazerac Cocktail

Chill two rocks glasses. Take one rocks glass, place one splash simple syrup, two dashes Peychaud's Bitters, then fill with ice. Add two ounces Sazerac Rye Whiskey. Stir, set aside.

The second rocks glass, discard ice. Pour 1 teaspoon Herbsaint into glass, swirl it around, or spin it into the air, to discard excess. Strain mixture from first glass into this glass. Garnish with a lemon rind, twisted to extract essential oils.

J. Marion Legendre

Legendre

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

museumoftheamericancocktail.org

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