Twelve Mile Limit in New Orleans is Cole Newton's Mid-City corner cocktail bar on South Telemachus Street, named for Prohibition-era rum running, with a backyard smoker and a serious cocktail list.
Food program: Barbecue from the smoker out back
Tip: The backyard barbecue runs Thursday to Sunday; ask the bar what's on the smoker.
Address: 500 S Telemachus St, New Orleans, LA 70119
Bar Tonique in New Orleans is the North Rampart Street classic cocktail bar from Tony Yu, with a stripped-back menu of canonical mixed drinks and a quiet Treme-edge crowd.
Signature drink: Classic cocktail menu
Food: None
Tip: The two-for-one happy hour from 17:00 to 20:00 is one of the best deals in the Quarter for a real cocktail.
The Carousel Bar in New Orleans is the rotating carousel inside Hotel Monteleone on Royal Street, where the Vieux Carre cocktail was invented in 1938 by bartender Walter Bergeron.
Signature drink: Vieux Carre
Food: Bar snacks
Tip: The bar itself rotates, one full turn every 15 minutes; the booths around it do not move.
The Elysian Bar in New Orleans is the Marigny lounge inside the Hotel Peter and Paul on Burgundy Street, with European wines, classic aperitifs and a courtyard in a converted rectory.
Signature drink: Aperitif rotation
Food: Bar snacks and small plates
Tip: The back courtyard is the prettiest seat; the rectory bar has the longer pour list.
Saturn Bar in New Orleans is the St Claude Avenue dive bar in the 9th Ward, with painted walls, cold beer and a fluorescent-light interior that has run since 1960 and feels untouched.
Signature drink: Cold beer and well drinks
Food: None
Tip: Cash only and no kitchen; pre-game across the street at the Country Club or at Bywater Bakery.
The Old Absinthe House in New Orleans is the 1807 Bourbon Street bar at Bienville, with marble fountains for absinthe drips and the canonical absinthe frappe invented here in 1874.
Signature drink: Absinthe frappe
Food: None
Tip: The absinthe frappe is the historical drink; the marble fountains drip cold water into the glass.
Jewel of the South in New Orleans is Chris Hannah's St Louis Street cocktail temple in an 1830s Creole cottage, four-time North America's 50 Best South USA winner and on the World's 50 list.
Signature drink: Brandy Crusta
Food: Full dinner menu upstairs
Tip: The brandy crusta was invented by Joseph Santini in New Orleans circa 1850; this is the canonical version.
