Dixie Detours: Tabasco Tourism on Avery Island

Louisiana’s most iconic brand, McIlhenny Company’s Tabasco brand Original Red Sauce packs a wallop of distinctively spicy flavour. For all its flavoursome punch, it’s comprised of only three natural ingredients: aged red peppers, vinegar and salt from Avery Island, which is also the home of all Tabasco production. In addition to the pepper sauce factory, the island (roughly two hours from New Orleans and 40 minutes from Lafayette) is also a botanical garden, bird sanctuary and wildlife refuge. Our last day in Louisiana, Kemey and I spent a fantastic morning on Avery Island before carrying on with our Dixie Detours road trip. Here are some highlights from the fun time we had there.

Tabasco Pepper Sauce Factory Tour

I’m a huge fan of Tabasco, and hardly a day’s gone by in my adult life without a bottle of the hot sauce gracing my kitchen cupboards. So I was excited about my visit to Avery Island. I can’t say the actual guided tour of the Tabasco bottling and packaging operations was very in depth, but it was fascinating to hearing about the company’s history and to get a glimpse of how the sauce made. I learned a few things too. For example, did you know that the McIlhenny Company uses old Jack Daniels whisky barrels for ageing the “pepper mash” that becomes hot sauce? We also got tiny sample bottles of the complete range of Tabasco brand sauces – Original Red, Green Jalapeño, Chipotle, Buffalo Style, Habanero, Garlic Pepper, and Sweet & Spicy. Plus, I just thought it was really neat to see the humble facilities where something as globally beloved as Tabasco Sauce is made. The grounds near the factory had a rustic charm and the air smelled peppery sweet.

Jungle Gardens

In addition to the factory, visitors to Avery Island can also tour round its Jungle Gardens, a 170-acre garden with “semitropical foliage, abundant wildlife, a centuries-old Buddha statue” and lots and lots of graceful snowy egrets. There are plenty of gators there too. Kemey and I saw a couple out sunning themselves. Roaming round the island’s lovely gardens and marshes was a great way to spend a sunshiny morning and worth the trip there alone.

Stay

I don’t think there are any guest accommodations open to the public on the island. We stayed at the SpringHill Suites about 40 minutes up the road in Lafayette and found it to be a convenient and extremely comfortable base for exploring the general Lafayette area. See my post about the greater Lafayette area for more info about the hotel. A lot closer to Avery Island is the town of New Iberia with a modest range of accommodations.

Eat and Drink

The Tabasco Country Store (read: gift shop) has all sorts of souvenirs, trinkets et al for the pepper sauce lover in your life. Some of it was total schlock but there were some cool things for sale. We picked up a bag of Hot & Spicy Cheez-its for the road and a jar of Spicy Pepper Jelly to enjoy back in London. There’s also a snack bar at the store with a reasonably priced lunch and snack menu along with lots of freebies to sample! Jalapeño ice cream was a particularly interesting item I tasted while there.

Off island, the nearest town is New Iberia where Kemey and I had a fantastic lunch at Vincent’s Cafeteria after leaving Avery Island. See my post about the greater Lafayette area for more about Vincent’s Cafeteria.

Keep an eye out for more highlights from my time in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida along with suggestions for planning your own southern sojourn. If y’all ain’t never been to the places mentioned in my Dixie Detours miniseries, I reckon you’re missing out.