If you’re a visitor to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, there are two very distinct ways to do it right (speaking from personal experience): You’re either a bead-bedecked 20-something with the phone number of a local friend’s parents written in permanent marker on your arm (just in case), or you’re now grown and watching the debauchery go by from the impeccably styled front porch of your generous longtime friends, perhaps awaiting calls from the next generation of temporarily tattooed young’uns. 

Park City now has a year-round spot to experience the generosity, graciousness, and gourmandism intrinsically linked to NOLA hospitality: Alpine Distilling’s Social Aid & Pleasure Club. In 2018, Alpine Distilling owners Rob and Sara Sergent launched Alpine Pie Bar located below 350 Main restaurant—it was a snug speakeasy-esque spot featuring fabulous cocktails paired with equally craveable slices of pie. Two years ago, they renovated and expanded the footprint’s entire lower level to create the Park City Social Aid & Pleasure Club. 
Alpine’s Master Botanical Distiller Sara Sergent calls the elegantly alluring space “an extension of our living room,” complete with conversation-friendly playlists inspired by whatever she and Rob are currently vibing to, from old school funk to this year’s best of French disco. Groupings of velvety plum armchairs and loveseats spaced around low cocktail tables encourage guests to settle in, stay awhile, and enjoy drinks from the award-winning distillery and cocktail program, including a superb espresso martini and French 75. You can also book a guided tasting of Alpine’s spirits for a group of friends, or craft a bottle of gin with a custom gin-making experience. 

Like the long-established social aid and pleasure clubs of New Orleans—the Sergents met and married in Louisiana years ago—community is the inspiration for both the name and civic ethos of their bar. They intended the space to be rooted in warmly serving locals and visitors alike, and it’s decidedly woven into Park City’s philanthropic fabric. Whether that’s for hosting nonprofit fundraisers or being the go-to spot for monthly book clubs, knitting groups, or, on one memorable instance, a macrame meet-up. “We’ve worked really hard to make sure this is a place where locals can always find a friendly space,” says Sara. And to that we raise a glass: laissez les bons temps rouler!