Although New Orleans is one of the country’s major mixology centers — in addition to having numerous acclaimed bars, it hosts the annual Tales of the Cocktail convention — it offers surprisingly few cocktail classes. The timing didn’t work out for us to try one at the Sazerac House, a museum and distillery just outside the French Quarter that opened in late 2019, but we were able to book a workshop with Drink Lab. We ascended to a cozy barroom above the company’s cocktail lounge, Victory, located in the Central Business District. Our teacher, Sean, gave us a warm welcome, and as we sipped welcome drinks of sparkling wine, rum, blueberry, lemon and orgeat, we learned that not only was he well versed in mixology, he was also a level 2 sommelier.