OH NO co.'s second annual Daiq Fest is this weekend, and frozen Daiquiri enthusiast Jeremy Thompson talks with NoDef about the history of the Daiquiri, his mission to preserve New Orleans' unique drinking culture, and why people hate on frozen cocktails. 

Frozen drink lovers beware: Jeremy Thompson says the Daiq is under attack. One of the first things visitors learn to love when they come to New Orleans is our legal ability to drink outside, and the New Orleans cocktail that best encapsulates our right to imbibe publicly is the frozen Daiquiri. It’s always served in a go cup for a reason, and The Open House New Orleans Company (OH NO co.) wants to preserve that tradition while rebranding the Daiquiri as more than just an alcoholic ICEE®. Saturday, August 18 marks the 2nd annual New Orleans Daiquiri Festival, and owner and operator Jeremy JF Thompson is excited to share the art of frozen mixology with Daiquiri lovers all over the city.

Unlike the Sazerac-- the Daiquiri’s biggest competitor for iconic New Orleans status—the Daiquiri is originally a Cuban drink. The word, “Daiquiri,” comes from a beach near Santiago, Cuba, and it was originally concocted out of rum, lime juice, and sugar, served on crushed ice. The history of when the Daiquiri first arrived in New Orleans is fuzzy, but Thompson said it was probably around the time Waring began selling household blenders, in the early 1950's. These days, Thompson said the Daiquiri has taken on new forms and become a symbol of New Orleans’ victory over drinking conventions in other cities. However, there are still people inside and outside of New Orleans that hate on the drink for its perceived simplicity and for the culture it represents.

Thompson said that the controversy of the drink lies in its mode of consumption. “The biggest thing about it is the fact that it’s essentially the biggest symbol for outdoor drinking, which is very specific to New Orleans.”

Thompson said another element of the controversy is the delegitimizing of the frozen daiquiri by comparison to its original, hand-shaken predecessor. “At Tales of the Cocktail, cocktail aficionados gave all those buttons away that said things like, ‘I heart go cups,’ or ‘I heart this bartender or that bartender.’ There was also one that said, ‘I heart hand-shaken Daiquiris.’ There seems to be this love of the original used as a kickback against frozen Daiquiris,” Thompson explained. He also noted, “The reality is, you can go down to Cuba and they have as many frozen daiquiri shops as we do.” 

According to Thompson, the frozen daiquiri stigma also comes from a type of “John Henry reality,” or man vs. machine debate. “I don’t quite see it because either way, the bartender’s getting paid,” said Thompson. “The more effort or hand-done attributes, the more real or natural it seems. But we have all these great new ingredients, access to handmade bitters, and the fact that it creates so much revenue for the city.”

Thompson also compared the Daiq to the Sazerac, and said that Daiquiris are the bigger moneymakers, despite the Sazerac’s clout as a classy New Orleans beverage. “Most of these bigger Daiquiri shops outsell the Sazerac ounce-to-ounce,” said Thompson.

Last year’s Daiquiri Festival was more of a bar crawl, with people carting around by bus and hitting up the Big Easy’s most famous Daiquiri shops. However, this year is a legitimate festival, happening all day at 4000 St. Claude on August 18 from 3-9pm. Thompson’s overarching goal is to pursue legislation that would create an official Daiquiri season, somewhere around mid-July to the end of August.