NEW ORLEANS CREATOR
Special Event to Commemorate Birthday and Announce Cocktail Competition, May 12
New Orleans, La – (April 10, 2012) – On Saturday, May 12, 2012, Herbsaint will host a birthday celebration to pay tribute to J. Marion Legendre, the creator of the anise-flavored liqueur brand which is now owned by the Sazerac Company of New Orleans.
The open-to-the-public event will be held at The Sazerac Bar, located inside The Roosevelt New Orleans Hotel, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Guests can enjoy Herbsaint Frappes and a special birthday cake cutting, as well as a chance to view historical photographs and artifacts from Herbsaint’s storied past.
In addition to the celebration, Herbsaint and Offbeat Magazine will announce details of the first annual Herbsaint Melodic Mixology Competition, a cocktail competition for New Orleans area bartenders which requires them to create a unique Herbsaint cocktail inspired by their favorite New Orleans song.
Guests in attendance will receive a reproduction of the first in a series of famous Herbsaint advertising posters, a mainstay in bars and restaurants in New Orleans in the 1930’s. For more information or questions, please contact Jana Ritter with Herbsaint at (504) 224-1411 or visit Herbsaint’s Facebook page.
Preceding the event, the Sazerac Restaurant inside The Roosevelt Hotel will feature special Herbsaint-inspired lunch specials.
About Herbsaint
Shortly after Prohibition ended in late 1933, a New Orleans apothecary-turned entrepreneur by the name of J. Marion Legendre introduced a product called Legendre Absinthe. Legendre learned about pastis and absinthe while stationed in France during WWI. Upon his return to New Orleans after the war, he secretly made absinthe in his Uptown home during prohibition. His launch of Legendre Absinthe was a dream come true. Sadly for Legendre, just months after launching his product, the U.S. Government forced him to remove the word absinthe from his brand name amid concerns that absinthe could have detrimental effects on people’s health. Legendre quickly re-named his product HERBSAINT and launched an aggressive marketing campaign that called on people to “Drink Herbsaint Wherever Absinthe Is Called For.”
Herbsaint is available in both 90pf (suggested retail $19.99) and 100pf (suggested retail $34.99) 750ml bottles. The Sazerac Company introduced the 100 proof product in 2009 to commemorate Herbsaint’s 75th Anniversary. The product is made according the very same recipe that Legendre first used in 1934.
About The Sazerac Company
Sazerac is one of New Orleans’ oldest family owned, privately held companies and has operations in New Orleans, Louisiana; Frankfort, Bardstown, Louisville and Owensboro, Kentucky; Fredericksburg, Virginia; Carson, California; Baltimore, Maryland and Montreal, Canada. For more information, please visit www.sazerac.com.