Celebrate Yankton Riverboat Days 2009 Mardi Gras theme in style.

New Orleans Cocktails for Mardi Gras
Looking for a little Carnival tipple? Consider these cocktails by Jolène M. Bouchon

New Orleans is said to be the home of the first cocktail. During Carnival season, it's ground zero for boozers—alcohol is served morning, noon, and night. The following adult beverages were all invented in the Big Easy. Try one to add a touch of authenticity to your Mardi Gras party.

Sazerac
Here's what we're talking about when we refer to "the first cocktail." In the early 1800s, pharmacist Antoine Peychaud invented a brand of bitters to soothe rotten stomachs. Then he invented a drink for the bitters. Voilà, cocktails.
Ingredients
2 teaspoons Absinthe
1 cup bourbon
1/2 teaspoon Peychaud's bitters or Angostura bitters
4 teaspoons simple syrup
lemon twist
Preparation
Swirl 1/2 teaspoon Absinthe in each of 4 Martini glasses to coat inside of glasses.
Fill cocktail shaker with ice; add bourbon, bitters, simple syrup, and lemon twist. Shake well; strain into glasses. yield: Makes 4 drinks

Ramos Gin Fizz
This gin drink tastes like a floral bouquet, thanks to the addition of orange flower water.
This drink was featured as a Cocktail of the Month.
Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces gin (such as Taaka or Tanqueray)
1 tablespoon simple syrup
2 ounces half-and-half
1 egg white
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 ounce orange flower water (substitute 6 to 12 drops orange oil OR 4 to 6 oz orange liqueur such as Triple Sec)
1 ounce lemon-lime soda
Orange wedge, for garnish
Preparation
In bottom part of cocktail shaker, combine first 6 ingredients. Blend with stick or immersion blender for 30 seconds. Partly fill highball or old-fashioned glass with three or four large ice cubes. Pour in drink. Top with soda. Garnish with orange wedge. yield: Serves 1

Absinthe
Death in the Afternoon
What could be more decadent than absinthe and Champagne? Absinthe and Champagne and oysters. Death in the Afternoon is not only the name of a Hemingway book, it's also the author's name of a drink he contributed to a book of celebrity cocktail recipes in 1935. His instructions are: "Pour one jigger absinthe into a Champagne glass. Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly." I heartily recommend drinking less than five of these, and you may also try pouring the absinthe on top instead; some brands of absinthe will float for a time on the Champagne, and this makes a nifty visual.

Southern Comfort
Southern Comfort's not just a brand of booze in New Orleans; it's a way of life. Try it on the rocks or in a Southern Comfort Champagne Cocktail.
Ingredients
1 ounce Southern Comfort
Dash Angostura bitters
4 ounces chilled champagne
Twist lemon peel
Preparation
Pour the Southern Comfort into a champagne glass, add bitters and champagne and garnish with the lemon peel. Alternatively, you may use either brandy (omitting the Angostura bitters and substituting an orange peel), or cognac (adding an additional dash or two of Angostura bitters and omitting the lemon peel). yield: Serves 1

Hurricane
Post-Katrina, the only welcome storms are the ones in our heads. Watch out for this fruity, gale-force rum concoction—more than one, and you'll need to declare yourself a national disaster.
Ingredients
1 ounce light rum
1 ounce dark rum
1 tablespoon passion fruit syrup (substitute a tablespoon of passion fruit sorbet and grenadine.)
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon superfine sugar, or to taste
Ice cubes
Preparation
Mix all ingredients except ice in shaker. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add ice cubes, shake well, and strain mixture into a cocktail glass.