Tales of the Cocktail 2010: No words...they should've sent a poet...

...or at least a better photographer than myself.

You know, I kind of panicked yesterday because I thought I'd left my card reader at home, but apparently I brought the USB cable. So check this out. So you're at Tales, and hanging out in New Orleans, you know, it's kind of natural you might run into John Besh.



(He was at the Hotel Monteleone doing a book signing and he was shy about being photographed on his own.)

Evidence of Tuesday night shenanigans, with photos of Miss von Teese before these photos veer into NSWF territory. (I plan on uploading more onto my Flickr later, so stay tuned there.)





Wednesday's breakfast with Oxley Gin:





A double-decker bus whisked folks off to the Beefeater Gin Tales reception on Wednesday night. The event had a Beefeater meets Alice in Wonderland theme.





This thing ended up leaking in my bag later on:



Some folks I did not know who wanted me to take their picture. But they came out real good and look so happy so they must be included:



What.



'Sup GQ

Alcohol, Dita von Teese and Lutheran kids from Iowa

Who knows what the fates were conspiring when they put this coincidence together, but I arrived when I arrived at the Bienville House I found that we were not alone. And, er, by "we" I guess I mean the royal we? Or everyone attending Tales?

Anyhow, when I arrived at the hotel I was staying out I found that the place was also being overrun by a bunch of Lutheran kids from Iowa. Apparently there was a national Lutheran youth meeting happening.

It was an interesting welcome to Tales.

Either way, I'm here. In New Orleans. I arrived just in time to miss registration, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to try and take in some Tales.

I hurried my way down to the House of Blues, a mere stone's throw away from where I was staying, to attend Cointreau's burlesque event with Dita von Teese.

Hosted by the famous Murray Hill (woot, New York represent), the show was pretty fantastic. This is my second brush with Miss von Teese's performance, though this time around Cointreau decided to go all out and create a line up of burlesque acts. From Coco Lectric, to hometown girl Perle Noire. For those who wanted more testosterone in their burlesque performance, there was Duke Lafayette.

I was most excited about seeing Selene Luna (any Margaret Cho fans out there).

The event also debuted three short films starring Miss von Teese, telling the origin stories of classic cocktails.

Afterwards I quickly stopped by Grey Goose's event at Latrobe's. The event was for a new series of videos that were being shot for the Sundance Channel's "Iconoclasts" series. It seemed that this time around, bartenders would be featured in several short video interviews.

I didn't stick around too long, but stopped by to say hi and how things had been going in my work-imposed exile. Everyone seemed to be pretty busy, which is always good to hear in this economy. For example, Joaquin Simo had been consulting for hotels, and Don Lee was about to get ready to start his nomadic period. Going here and there where the cocktails called him. Like some kind of cocktail version of "Kung Fu." Maybe it's time to resurrect the Legend of the One-Armed Bartender.

Eh, not much on drinks I suppose, but I still got three more days in this town, so I have plenty of time to bore you all with info.

I'm back, and in time for Tales

Hey, everyone whose been wondering why there's been so much radio silence here. The past couple of months, the good folks over at NRN Online, which includes me, have been wrapped up on updating the site from the inside out &$151; redesign, new CMS, the whole works. This meant a lot of weekends and late nights, which in turn meant I was sorely neglecting this blog.

Anyhow, the new website is up (check out how nice and shiny it is), and we're finally getting back to the normal swing of things it seems so here I am back in the land of the drinking.

And a good thing we finished up when we did since now I'm down here at Tales, but Tales is its own whirlwind of activity, so let's see how this goes.

Going on right now: Ultimate Cocktail Challenge

Over at the Astor Center tables with carafes of liquid identified only by number as three judges sat at each table with a lone bartender

It's the Utlimate Cocktail Challenge, and for the next two days, different spirit brands are competing head-to-head in a blind taste test to determine which spirits come out on top when used for classic cocktails.

More on this later, but for now, two quick pictures:

Sean Hoard making Negronis to be judged by Julie Reiner, Dave Wondrich and Doug Frost.


Judges Jacques Bezuidenhout, Tad Carducci and Dale DeGroff tasting Cosmopolitans.

USBG Cocktail World Cup with 42 Below, U.S.A. National competition

March 7


1000 bartenders nation-wide competed in regional competitions. From those competitions, two bartenders were picked to represent each of the cities, and on Sunday night 26 bartenders competed in Liberty Hall at the Ace Hotel to determine the final three bartenders who would go on to represent Team USA at the USBG Cocktail World Cup 2010 in New Zealand later this month.

Since the competition is sponsored by the New Zealand-based vodka brand 42 Below, the contestants all made a signature drink using one of 42 Below's vodka for the judges. Founder of the Bartender's Academy of New York, Charles Ohlbaum, King Cocktail himself, Dale DeGroff, and chef Sam Talbot.



One thing I noted besides the variety of cocktails using eggs was the pretty phenomenal array of garnishes and drink accoutrement throughout the competition.

Team Denver's Adam Hodak, bartender at Osteria Marco and beverage director for Bonanno Concepts used a hollowed out bit of lemongrass as a straw for his drink, Exposed Passion of Simplicity (42 Below passion fruit vodka, Domaine du Canton ginger liqueur, his own lemongrass tonic, fresh lime), and even flamed the drink with a spritz of his passion fruit bitters mad with 42 Below.

Jess Hiller of the Sunset Lounge at the Mondrian Hotel in Miami dipped his glasses in molten beeswax infused with ylang ylang to rim them for his drink (42 Below Manuka Honey, New Zealand thym and honey simple syrup, yuzu juice, passion fruit flesh) and also floated a honeycomb for additional decoration.



Charles Gilbert, from the Gold Room in Atlanta, made a lollipop from sugar cane, kiwi and cilantro to garnish his drink (muddled lime, serrano peppers, cucumber and cilantro-cucumber syrup shaken with watermelon, 42Below Kiwi and Dolin sweet vermouth).

There were also plenty of references to New Zealand in the different drinks. Most obviously, kiwi was one of the repeats in the different recipes. Others used the name of their drinks to reference back to either New Zealand or the product.

Philip Greene of Team D.C., who interestingly enough works for the Pentagon during the day when he's not making drinks at The Passenger, named is drink The Cook Strait Sling, after strait that cuts between the northern and southern islands of New Zealand.

Jason Brown of Sensing in Boston named his drink Mr. Robinson, after Jackie Robinson who famously wore the number 42.

As much as it was about the drinks and showing one's personality and technique through the drinks, some bartenders played up showmanship. Team Chicago's Lynn House from Graham Elliott and Jennifer Contraveos from Mercadito and Double A were the only ladies in the competition. They showed their solidarity and represented their city by starting their portion of the competition with a "Blues Sisters" act, complete with Blues Brothers outfit and "Can't Turn You Loose" playing as their background music.

Daniel Victory from Twist and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New Orleans opened up by asking the DJ to play something different. After throwing out a couple of CDs, he finally pulled out a Jimi Hendrix record, and took off his jacket to reveal colorful Jimi Hendrix shirt. He also provided popcorn for the judges.

After over 3 hours of cocktail making, the three chosen to represent the United States were:

Sean Hoard of PDT, who represented NYC with Thomas Waugh, with the Wellington Fizz (42 Below Kiwi vodka, lime juice, orgeat syrup, passionfruit puree, heavy cream, egg white, club soda). Sean said that his inspiration for the drink was a Pavlova, a dessert item popular in New Zealand and Austrlia (with bit of contested history as to which country actually can lay claim to the dessert's creation, though plenty sources seem to credit the birthplace of the pavlova to be Wellington, New Zealand.)

Mark Stoddard, bar manager of Happy Bitter Bar in Denver, created a whole three-course like experience with his South of Brooklyn with caviar and a fanciful honeycomb side dish of sorts. The drink itself was made with 42 Below Honey Vodka, of rye whiskey, his own homemade of Amer Picon bitters, of Maraschino liqueur.

And last but not least, Todd Thrasher of PX, Restaurant Eve and The Majestic in Northern Va. (representing D.C.), rounded out the three with his drink. Todd should've also won any alternative awards for his cocktail's name. The appropriately long and expository "I have too much Thyme on my hands right now at this point in my life." It's like an E. E. Cummings poem.

The "I have too much Thyme..." is made with 42 Below vodka, Cynar, of lime and thyme syrup, home made apple bitters and a garnish of compressed apple thyme balls. The garnishes were made by vacuum bagging, then sous-vide cooking the apple balls with thyme and apple bitters.

Todd said his inspiration for the drink was from a dish he tried at Alinea that used apple, thyme and artichoke (hence the Cynar in the drink).

My friend Marc Almandarez was on-hand as my plus one and photographer. I've asked him for his services before considering he's way better at this picture taking business than I am.

If you want to see some photos besides the ones below, and in a larger size too, check out Marc's Flickr set for the event.

Alex Day's last shift at Death and Co.

It was last call at Death and Co. on a Thursday night/Friday morning. I'd come in and stayed all throughout the evening because I was trying to get my fill of drinks made by Alex Day before he left for the West Coast (after a slight detour in Asia). Earlier in the evening I told Joaquin Simo that I was getting some drinking done.

"You know you really should tell us things like that," Joaquin said. "That just sounds like a challenge."

Next thing you know there was an amply filled shot glass in front of me. It was emerald green, which narrowed it down to what it could be. Nonetheless, everything from the pool of guesses pointed towards consequences dire.

"...what is this?" I asked suspiciously.

"Oh, you'll know," he answered.

Down the hatch and as soon as it hit my stomach a reactive cloud of herby, minty, Winter Green, Doublemint power attack of green chartreuse wafted its way back up into my olfactory system. I wish I could tell you that was my only shot of green chartreuse that night.

Joaquin was working with Alex on his last shift. It was just a couple of days ago at Alex's going away party at Huckleberry Bar when Joaquin had joked that maybe D&C's no-standing rule would need to be lifted for Alex's last shift. While the crowd inside didn't seem too overwhelming in numbers, the friends and colleagues left at the end of the evening at last call proved to be persistent.

People continued to jokingly (and half seriously) ask for drinks, Alex refused them with a triumphant feigned petulance that can only be afforded to those working the last day of their job.

"You're all just getting beer," he defiantly stated. "I'm not making another drink."

I'm always up for a game of "Beat This Dead Horse" so as I settled my check, I asked, "Hey, could I get some Parfait Amour?"

After a split-second pause, he answered, "I will stab you with this bar spoon," as I cackled away at my own lame joke.

When the iPod Alex Day plugged in to the sound system at Death and Company started playing "New Slang" by the Shins, it became a losing battle against the sentimental. On top of that, with the snow falling outside, I looked around to make sure we weren't just characters playing out an Adrian Tomine comic or something.

Phil Ward, one of many to stop by during the evening, to wish Mr. Day off hopped behind the bar at one point during Alex's protestations, and poured a shot for Alex and himself. As the two took the shook hand and took the shot, the entire bar let out a half-sober "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaawww..." and cheered since we were definitely witnessing what could be described as A Moment.

Other moments of the evening was when Enzo Lim and Abigail Gullo came in and presented Alex with a snowball for a drink. Alex put the snowball in a glass and served them an Old Fashioned and all three declared coming of the age of Snowballogy in cocktail making.

I had my own moment at the end of the evening. Before leaving, I gave Alex one last hug and blurted out, "I'm losing my Bertie!" regardless if anyone would get the reference or not.

Probably not because it was more my own private reference. I've always joked that this blog was more of a social history of bartenders rather than anything useful, and in a way Wodehouse was an inspiration. When covering the idiosyncratic world of cocktail bartenders with its recurring cast of "characters" who more often than not dressed up in their dandified fashion, it wasn't too far off to make a connection the world of Bertie, Jeeves and the Drones Club.

First Daniel Eun, then Mr. Freeman heads out to Asia (he's back in the city now and then, but it's not the same when you can't just stop by Tailor and bug him about what he's got up his sleeve at the moment), and now, Mr. Day.

Alex was one of the first bartenders (1, 2) I built a rapport with who convinced me that despite my issues with social awkwardness, bartenders are totally not scary and you can talk to them and stuff (along with folks like Joaquin Simo, Jim Meehan, Eben Freeman and Damon Dyer). It was these first couple of blog entries talking and frequenting these bars that helped to set up my modus operandi with bartenders as well as the general tone of the blog. (Oh, man, reading earlier blog entries is mortifying).

I know, it sounds a bit weird, but come on, when it's snowing and The Shins are playing, you get a little weird like that. This is why you don't do shots of green chartreuse.

Stopping by for a dram or two at Dram in Brooklyn

I stopped by Dram on Sunday night. It wasn't open yet, but the birthday of Thomas Chadwick's wife brought about a reason to have a friends and family gather in the space.

With the an opening date somewhere soonish on the horizon, I could help but ask Thomas about what Dram was going to be like. I don't know if I've ever had anybody explain plans for a drink menu using the words "Venn diagram" before.

You can trace back the ideas and plans for Dram to Thomas' experience with supper clubs and doing a resident pop-up cocktail program at neighborhood dive bar Bushwick Country Club. At the same time there's a method to the controlled chaos. He said he figured that the informal format of rotating guest bartenders (there will be staff, but also expect people to drop in from time to time) will work in a place like New York, where nowadays having cocktail program with some measure of thoughtfulness almost seems like a given and most consumers are pretty educated about what they want.

"It's good for the bartenders because they don't have to learn a menu and customers get what they want."

Beer and wine on the other hand will be "curated." I immensely enjoyed his use of the word curated because it was pretty evocative of how the wine and beer selection would be treated. Cataloged, updated and maintained.

The off-the-cuff and experimental style for cocktails will carry over to food, with a food station that Thomas described as being like an indoor food truck. Guest food persons will come in and serve their fare from a concessions style counter (food paid for at counter, separate from the drink check), and there are plans not only to invite established chefs and cooks, but also possible encourage participation from well-known or passionate non-pros.

It was all starting to sound like a food and drink think tank, if that think tank was like one of those jam band sessions where you all sit around doing your own thing, maybe have some other artistically inclined friends stop by. Some start taking pictures of you guys, maybe others are drawing up poster or mixed tape/CD cover ideas and yet another is recording the sound to try out their new sound equipment...and the whole thing takes place in a setting highly reminescent of a polished version of someone's parents' rec room (with all the wood paneling, and cozy storage units hanging up on the wall filled with not just glasses and booze, but with books and records).

And speaking of records, if I wasn't already beating the jam session analogy to death, they aren't just for decoration. The plan is to have all ambient music supplied by a record player in a corner behind the bar.

I looked at the drink menu for the party, I went ahead and decided to just try the George Washington Punch (Applejack, whiskey, tea, spices, sparkling cider), simply because if there's punch at a party, you're kind of obligated to try it. Yea, I just made that rule up, but it makes sense, doesn't it? It's like going to a birthday party and not singing along to the birthday song.

However, since the evening was basically cocktails made with whatever is behind the bar by whoever was behind the bar, I had to wing it. Mayur Subbarao and Nicholas Jarrett were behind the bar. I asked Nick for something with whiskey and Nick answered, "How about rum?" I was down with this.

The resulting drink (exact measurements thanks to Nick handwriting it on a piece of paper for me) was made with 1/2 oz. St. James Royal Ambre, 1/2 oz. Tariquel Bas-Armagnac, 3/4 oz. Sandeman's Rainwater Madeira, 1/2 oz. Del Capo Amaro and a teaspoon of Luxardo Maraschino. Oddly enough, the whole thing reminded me of pears. To get even more specific, Shingo pears, when you get down to that big close to the core. A kind of fruity, woody thing.

I kept myself to three for the evening and had just one more drink, but I said I'd stop by once again after the place was open to see how this food and beverage jam session works live.