The Sweet Taste of Bitters Success

El Guapo CEO Christa Cotton with her family on Mardi Gras day.

How many varieties of bitters are stocked in your bar? Once upon a time, there were only two choices – our beloved, local Peychaud bitters and Angostura – originally crafted in Angostura, Venezuela. Today, there are literally hundreds of varieties – a dizzying selection to say the least.

One of the biggest players in the bitters field is New Orleans’ own El Guapo. We take a tour of their Tchoupitoulas Street facility and learn how El Guapo’s president Christa Cotton did a pandemic pivot that grew her business over 800 percent last spring.

Next, we take a deep dive into a Sazarac cocktail – the official drink of New Orleans whose flavor relies heavily on Peychaud’s bitters – with Tim McNally, whose new book focuses on that single topic.

Then, we visit the Crescent City's ultimate liquor experience, The Sazerac House. The multimillion-dollar, three-story interactive museum that opened last fall on the corner of Canal and Magazine Street is a liquor-laden Disney World for historians and cocktail lovers alike. We take a guided tour and get a peek at the first distillery ever located smack in the middle of downtown New Orleans.