The New Orleans Cocktail Named After Helen Mirren Sure Is Spicy

Dame Helen Mirren is best known for being an amazing actress (as well as a timeless beauty), but the British celebrity can add another honor to her lengthy list of achievements. You know you've truly made it in life when you have a drink named after you, and that's precisely what happened to Mirren according to a recent appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show." The legendary celebrity revealed that a New Orleans-based bar called Pal's Lounge created the "Helen F***ing Mirren" cocktail, and according to the bartender who developed the drink, the name came from the fact that Mirren was "the spiciest British person we could think of."

In the past, Clarkson has spilled the tea on which celebrities make the best food, Jennifer Garner being among the selections, but Mirren's namesake cocktail features a different type of tea, namely Earl Grey (fittingly enough, Earl Grey was one of Queen Elizabeth II's favorite teas). The drink also includes vodka, Darjeeling liqueur, honey, lemon, and habanero, which is where the spiciness comes from (apart from the name, of course). After sampling the cocktail, Clarkson declared "That's good!" For her part, Mirren described her eponymous cocktail as "positively lethal" when she had it the first time and "delicious" when sipping it again on Clarkson's show.

The combination of ingredients featured in the "Helen F***ing Mirren" is pretty clever, as the beverage effectively blends mild and intense flavors. Earl Grey is described as having a flowery, citrus-tinged flavor while Darjeeling liqueur combines the grassy, earthy flavor of the tea with notes of milk chocolate and a very understated spiciness. Then there's the habanero, a pepper known for imparting a potent yet manageable intensity, which is tempered by the cooling lemon and sweetness of the honey.

Helen Mirren makes no secret that Pal's Lounge is a beloved establishment, even going so far as to call it "the best bar in New Orleans." It turns out Mirren has a deeper connection to Pal's than simply loving their drinks, as the bar was founded by the actress's stepson Rio Hackford, who died in 2022. Mirren also has a great appreciation for the Pal's Lounge staff, namely bartenders Laura Walch (who created the spicy drink) and Charla Zot. Walch stated that Mirren's praise of her concoction was "a pinnacle for me, personally," while Zot said that Mirren "did more for me than she could ever know" after sending a personal message of praise to Zot's father.