Arnaud's may be most famous for its 17 dining rooms serving exquisite meals, but it's still the best place to sip a Scarlett O'Hara.

Southern Comfort, Ramos Gin Fizz, Sazerac, Herbsaint, and Peychaud's Bitters all got their start in the French Quarter.

So what would be more fitting in New Orleans than a Southern Comfort Cocktail Tour? Our favorite guide, Joe Gendusa, and his pals lead two-and-a-half-hour walking forays, and each one is different.

A Tour of Refined Tastes
New Orleans claims to have birthed the cocktail. On Royal Street, Joe tells about a young apothecary named Antoine Peychaud who created a curative in the 1830s. He often mixed the medicine with brandy and absinthe. Served in a French eggcup called a coquetier, Peychaud's Bitters drink was mispronounced "cocktail."

Amid the chic stores, it's difficult to imagine absinthe bars. In 1912 the licorice-flavored liqueur was outlawed in the U.S. because of its hallucinatory properties. Joe suggests swashbuckling into Pirate's Alley Café after the tour for a Green Fairy, made with Absente (a legal version).