Tabasco Avery Island Experience

For many years Steve and I have wanted to have the Tabasco Avery Island Experience. We were hopeful about visiting both times that we stayed in western Louisiana. But that never happened!

During our first year as full timers, we had to evacuate from New Orleans due to an approaching hurricane. So we headed west to Lafayette for a few days for safe harbor. That was in 2020. There were no tours due to Covid-19.

We visited Lafayette again in 2021, on our way to Galveston Island TX, after several weeks in New Orleans. Our mistake was not trying to get tickets as soon as we booked our RV park. All tours for the Tabasco Avery Island Experience were sold out during the time we were spending in the area.

Since we have been to New Orleans so many times, and this time staying in NOLA a little over 5 months, we have seen most everything in this vicinity. So a couple of weeks ago, Steve asked me if I wanted to take the plunge, and get tickets. I figured that if he was willing to drive 140 miles, each way, then who am I to argue. I quickly went online and bought our tickets.

It was a very long drive, but fortunately it was unimpeded by traffic. And I was armed with my trusty thermal mug of French Roast!

By the time we got to the Tabasco Avery Island Experience we were quite hungry. So we parked by the 1868 Restaurant to have lunch before taking our self guided tour. As soon as we opened the car doors we were hit with the scent of fermenting peppers that permeated the air around us. There was no denying that we were in hot sauce heaven!

We both decided on the basket of Fried Shrimp and French Fries. Steve placed our order while I went out on the veranda to find a table for us. There was exactly one available table. It was as if there was a card on it that read “Reserved for The Traveling Locavores”!

When Steve joined me at our table, he couldn’t believe our good fortune to have a seat with a beautiful view of a sprawling Live Oak, complete with lots of hanging Spanish Moss to complete the picture. Our lunch was served and our baskets were overflowing with very crispy shrimp and perfect fries. And of course there were lots of selections of Tabasco flavors to enhance our lunch.

Once our tummies were sated, we headed to the Tabasco Museum to begin our tour. The museum held lots of memorabilia along with tons of fun facts about Tabasco. For example, we learned that the iconic bottle and label  have changed very little since founder Edmund McIlhenny mixed his first batch of the now world famous pepper sauce. He chose the only bottles that he could get his hands on easily during the post Civil War South. Discarded, long necked cologne bottles were what he used to bottle the sauce he made for family and friends.

When the sauce became famous and increased in popularity, it became easy to recognized. The bottle shape made it easy for sprinkling and each bottle came with a metal sprinkler to ensure that the fiery red sauce would dispense in small drops.

Even the diamond shaped label has remained true to the very beginning. There have only been minor modifications in package design over the last roughly 150 years.

Following the self guided tour is made easy because each stop is numbered in the order that they want you to view it. So from the Museum, we headed to the Greenhouse. That’s where we saw what varieties of chiles go into Tabasco. Besides the Tabasco peppers, they grow habaneros and jalapeños.

From the Greenhouse we walked to Barrel Museum and then the Fermenting Building. Then on to the Blending and Bottling. We ended the walking portion of our tour in, where else, the Gift Shop. Where we bought all sorts of goodies, including an adorable fuzzy red Tabasco Pepper to join our other stuffed creatures from our travels.

Next up was a gorgeous drive through the Avery Island Jungle Gardens, with lots of stops to hike and take photos. We got to drive through the Wisteria Arch, but unfortunately the Wisteria were not in bloom. We saw the 800 year old buddha, the McIlhenny home and Bird Island, where hundreds of Egrets and even a Pink Spoonbill, enjoy safe haven.

By the time we left our Tabasco Avery Island Experience, we were exhausted, but very happy that we took that long drive. If you’re a Foodie, like us, you should add a tour of the Tabasco Factory to your bucket list!!!