Professor of Cocktail Studies

1923: Having spotted an approaching US Coast Guard patrol boat, the crew of the rum runner Linwood attempts to destroy the evidence by sinking it.

On this date in 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act into law. The act punished any state that allowed drinking below age 21 by cutting 10 percent of its annual federal highway apportionment.

In September 1949, a new Sazerac Bar—named for the iconic New Orleans cocktail—opened at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. Just before it did, the owner put out word that women would be welcome anytime. They had been allowed in the old bar only on Mardis Gras. On opening day—September 26, 1949–New Orleans women took full advantage of the change in policy by descending on the bar in force. It is often said that the women crowded into the bar in defiance of the bar’s old policy, which in the telling was still in force. This makes for a better story. But even the real story underscores that the times were changing. This “Storming of the Sazerac” has been re-enacted annually ever since, complete with vintage costumes.