Bourbon Street Sauce: The Corrosive Stench of a Damn Good Time

The Stench of a Good Time

Nobody knows exactly what Bourbon Street Sauce is. It's not a recipe. It's not a condiment. It's the corrosive, vile, nausea-inducing film that coats the streets and sidewalks of Bourbon Street — a cocktail of spilled drinks, discarded food, human fluids of various descriptions, and approximately 300 years of accumulated revelry. It stays with you for days. It is impossible to remove from shoes. And it is the olfactory signature of the most famous party street in America.

The worst part is that Bourbon Street Sauce attracts various other pests. It's a buffet for cockroaches, a watering hole for rats, a breeding ground for flies, and a slip-and-slide for anyone foolish enough to walk through it in sandals, flip-flops, or open-toed shoes. Never walk barefoot on Bourbon Street. This should not need to be said, but every weekend, someone tests the theory and lives to regret it.

A Damn Good Time, Preserved in Grime

The sauce is the residue of a damn good time had by all — the physical evidence of a street that never sleeps, never stops pouring, and never quite gets clean no matter how many times the city hoses it down. Each morning, the sanitation crews come through with pressure washers, pushing the previous night's accumulation toward the gutters. By the following evening, a fresh layer has been deposited. It is the most renewable resource in New Orleans.

Locals avoid Bourbon Street for many reasons, but the sauce is near the top of the list. The smell on a hot August afternoon — a fermented combination of stale beer, decomposing fruit, and things best left unidentified — can induce actual nausea in people walking past on Royal Street, a full block away. It is both the price and the proof of Bourbon Street's existence as the epicenter of American excess.

Frequently Asked Questions About Bourbon Street Sauce

What is Bourbon Street Sauce?

It's the accumulated grime coating Bourbon Street's sidewalks and gutters — a mixture of spilled drinks, discarded food, and various organic materials deposited by the nightly crowds. It is not a condiment.

Can you walk barefoot on Bourbon Street?

You can, in the same way you can juggle chainsaws. The question is whether you should. The answer is no. Wear closed-toe shoes.

Does the city clean Bourbon Street?

Yes. Sanitation crews pressure-wash Bourbon Street every morning. The street is typically clean by mid-morning and re-coated by midnight.