The Absinthe Frappé, the Old Absinthe House, and the ban that changed New Orleans drinking

Few drinks are as tied to a single address as the Absinthe Frappé. It is absinthe, simple syrup, soda water, mint, and crushed ice, and its home is a corner building in the French Quarter.

The building

The Old Absinthe House stands on Bourbon Street. Difford’s Guide lists it at 240 Bourbon Street, at the corner of Bienville. Wikipedia says the building was completed in 1806 and first operated as a grocery, and that the Aleix family, Catalonian immigrants, managed it from 1842. By 1869, it was advertised as “the Absinthe House.”

When the ground floor became a bar is unsettled. Wikipedia says around 1836, and notes that the bar’s own 1878 claim of an 1836 start is one of several accounts. Difford’s says the ground floor became a saloon in 1815. The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails says 1836, and adds the same caveat that sources differ.

Cayetano Ferrer and the Frappé

The Oxford Companion says Ferrer came to New Orleans from Barcelona in 1844 and was a bartender at the French Opera House before Leopold Aleix hired him around 1870. He took over the bar three years later, and the Oxford entry gives his dates as about 1827 to 1886.

The Frappé’s date is disputed. New Orleans & Company says Ferrer invented it at the bar in 1874, and Difford’s says the same. The Oxford Companion says only that some claim he invented it in 1872. It also says the bar was known for the Absinthe Drip and the Absinthe Frappé, and that its corner was nicknamed “the corner of absinthe and anisette.”

The naming is murkier. Difford’s says Ferrer “christened the saloon ‘The Absinthe Room’” in 1890. Wikipedia’s absinthe article says Ferrer renamed it the Absinthe Room in 1874. The Oxford entry puts Ferrer’s death in about 1886, which sits uneasily with an 1890 renaming by him. Treat the name’s history as unsettled.

The 1912 ban

The United States banned absinthe in 1912, per New Orleans & Company and Wikipedia’s absinthe article. According to the Oxford Companion, absinthe imports were banned that year and the Old Absinthe House reportedly stockpiled absinthe. It says Pierre Cazebonne bought the bar from the Ferrers in 1913 and that Prohibition began in 1920.

Difford’s says a federal judge enforcing the Volstead Act ordered the saloon’s contents sold at auction, and that the original bar counter went to 400 Bourbon Street and later returned to No. 240. The Oxford entry says the bar reopened in 1928 and ran as a dance hall until 1943, when Owen Brennan bought it.

Herbsaint steps in

Absinthe’s absence left a gap. New Orleans Magazine says J.M. Legendre and Reginald Parker created Herbsaint in New Orleans in 1934. It was first named “Legendre’s Absinthe,” never contained wormwood, and was renamed after federal authorities objected to the word. The magazine says the new name is an anagram of “absinthe” with an R added. Wikipedia says the Federal Alcohol Control Administration objected and the name became “Legendre Herbsaint,” a French/Creole term meaning “Sacred Herb.”

Between 1912 and 1934, no Herbsaint existed. The New Orleans & Company drink page says Pernod and Herbsaint were substituted, without sorting out the timeline. Another New Orleans Magazine piece says pastis filled in for a time, in its Sazerac history. Sazerac bought Herbsaint in June 1949, according to Wikipedia, and still makes it.

Today the ban is over. Wikipedia says the TTB effectively lifted it in 2007, with Lucid the first approved brand and St. George making the first American-made absinthe in December 2007. The city’s drink page says many New Orleans bars returned to real absinthe after the 2007 repeal. Difford’s says most still use Herbsaint for the Sazerac rinse.

The drink

New Orleans & Company’s recipe uses 1½ oz. absinthe, ½ oz. simple syrup, 2 oz. soda water, 6 to 8 mint leaves, and crushed ice. Other versions differ widely. Punch runs a recipe from Scott Baird at Couvant with 1 oz. absinthe, crème de menthe, lemon juice, and a sweetened condensed milk syrup, and says to shake it “extra long and extra hard.”

Visiting

As of November 2026, Difford’s Guide lists the bar at 240 Bourbon Street. Hours are left out here because they change, so check with the bar before going.