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

Blogging Tales of the Cocktail 2009 post Tales: Day 2

So I got back and I've finally recovered and got some time gather my thoughts on Tales. They really shouldn't end Tales on a Sunday just for the people who have to head back to regular 9-5 jobs after the whole, but I digress.

July 9

Some seminar highlights worth mentioning:

"Mixologists and Their Toys"
Moderator: Erin Williams, Cointreau brand ambassador
Panelists: Don Lee, PDT; Evan Wallace; Xavier Herit, Daniel; Fernando Castellon

This seminar was packed. Don quickly demonstrated his atomizer stencils (previous mention), then peaced out to go back to work with the apprentices. For anyone interested to in making their own stencil laser cutting, check out thingiverse.com to get the files necessary for the PDT logo stencil to try out. The little lines you see breaking up the logo are little bits of plastic necessary in the stencil to hold it together, so Don advised that the more complicated the image, the harder it would be to make it look good AND have it all in one piece on one stencil.

Fernando Castellon and Xavier Herit both talked about spherification.

"Everything you see, you must taste it...quality should be first, looks second," Fernando said about using new mad scientist techniques for cocktails, before going on to show off the Cointreau caviar he created when Cointreau approached him to make a cocktail with gold inside for Cannes.

Just looking at the set up on the table like beakers and magnet stirrers, you could tell how crazy scientific things were going to get.

Fernando made sure to tell those attending, "Everything you see you must taste it...quality should be first, looks second."

Using a gelifier that reacts to a calcium bath, Fernando made his spheres that he explained were more capsule like with a sort of burst of flavor/liquid in the middle.

Water, juices, any liquid works well as long as the ph isn't too low, but gelifier doesn't mix too well with liqueur or spirits. So, he mixed a gelifier (sodium alginate) with water, but also mixed it with maltrodextrin to help with the texture. He then mixed that mixture (one part sodium alginate to 3 parts maltodextrin) using a magnetic stirrer adding the gelifier powder mixture little by little to not make clumps, and added the Cointreau and gold flakes (obviously, edible 24 karat gold flakes) right before making the spheres.

While calcium chloride has been used plenty of times for this type of process for the calcium bath, Fernando said he found calcium chloride to be a bit aggressive as well as leaving an aftertaste, so instead he prefers to use calcium lactate.

One protip Fernando offered was that using a syringe to make spheres causes a small problem. The first liquid you drop into the calcium bath is going to sit in the bath longer than the last drop, becoming harder and harder. Also, it's a little time consuming when you have to make a whole bunch, so he found out that he could make a whole bunch by putting the liquid into a pearl dispenser, or in layman's terms, a parmesan cheese dispenser. The if you mixed the gelifiers properly, the liquid should be thick enough (and not clumpy) for droplets to rain into spherification ready droplets out of the cheese dispenser's holes.

Next was Xavier Herit, head bartender at restaurant Daniel here in NYC. He was also showing off the strawberry pearls he makes over at Daniel used in the Strawberry and Pearls, which is a strawberry margarita served with the pearls.

On thing that stood out to me about what Daniel was saying was his enthusiastic announcement that, "I'm here to show you that you can do it."

Xavier began serving the pearls a year ago, and he's been able to serve this product in an actual working bar. Daniel also added that it definitely helped with garnering attention as well as publicity for the bar.

"People would say, 'Oh, did you see the bartender with the syringe?'"


"Chemistry of Cocktails (How Alcohol Works and Its Implications for Mixology)"
Melkon Khosrovian, Modern Spirits

I think the most interesting bit I got out of this, and I think several other people from the seminar would agree with me, is the role of the proof of a beverage and the fat content of the food when it comes to pairings.

I have to admit, I'd never personally given that much thought when it came to cocktail and food pairing situations.

I mean, yes, things like flavor, portion, temperature and the complexity of flavors make a difference as well, as Melkon explained, but some people forget to think of proof.

The fact is that the higher to proof, the better the drink is at cleansing the palate of fatty foods. Melkon explained in depth about how fat is hydrophobic, so it repels water. Wine usually does not have enough alcohol to absorb and cleanse the mouth of some fattier foods.

To illustrate that point, everyone got a bit of cheesecake with two small glasses, one was just vodka, and another diluted. In a side by side comparison, I could tell that the full strength vodka definitely cleared up the mouth almost like an astringent to an oily teenager's face.

Our (wo)man in New Orleans

July 8
As I sat in Laguardia airport after my delayed flight was canceled, I thought to myself, "Man, maybe I wasn't meant to go to Tales of the Cocktail this year."

Somehow the ineptitude and just plain terribleness of an airline that shall remain unnamed I found myself on one of the last flights out of NYC to Atlanta...where I'd, I guess, just stick out my thumb and hope a plane takes me to New Orleans in the morning.

Compared to the last time when I flew down to New Orleans last flight down, I found myself on a plane to Atlanta stuck behind a little girl who kept trying to sublimate herself into the airplane seat, and a row before her, a kid trying to sneeze his entire endocrine system out at 2 minute intervals, and a seat that stiffly wouldn't move back at all, I was in my own personal hell. And if that wasn't punishment enough, three hours of sleep at a dingy hotel/motel that had me worried I'd wake up covered in insects of some sort.

Luckily, in the bright light of day, with a breakfast of four Krystal sliders at the airport, things started to look up. I managed to find a seat on the first flight out of Atlanta and I arrived in New Orleans in time to attend the first session of Tales of the Cocktail, Big Trends 2009.

With moderator Ryan Magarian, co-founder of Aviation Gin and president of the cocktail consulting firm Liquid Relations, the panel included im Meehan, co-owner of the cocktail lounge PDT in New York, Michael Waterhouse, proprieter New York's Dylan Prime and Devin Tavern, and Simon Difford, owner and editor of Sauce Guide Publications.

Fresh and seasonal fruits and veggies as ingredients, as well as the popularity of gin were discussed as the group on stage talked through different trend worthy elements for 2009.

While the panel agreed that gin was big, the panel had differing opinions on what other spirits are on the rise. Jim mentioned how mezcal and tequila seemed to be something to pay attention to from what he's seen in New York, naming Death and Co. alum Phil Ward's new tequila and mezcal cocktail lounge Mayahuel.

Jim also thought that rye whiskey was the "giant white elephant" in the room. Even without a lot of innovation with the spirit itself, "you can't help but be astounded by the success of rye whiskey this year."

“We can't keep it on the shelves."

Simon though, commented that in Europe, rye whiskey is still something behind the bar for the bartender, and that general consumption by the bar going public isn't up there yet to be considered a trend there.

Waterhouse said that while mezcal wasn't a spirit that has a big call in the type of operation he runs, definitely tequila and gin are

More importantly, people are beginning to take notice of smaller artisan distillers. "It's green, it's small, it's local it's homemade, people are looking for this...People love that there is someone handcrafting products. People love that. You see these little soda companies. That's the big thing in spirits that I find."

Being proactive and taking control was the theme for the panel discussion on managing costs.

“My initial gut reaction to that is we're all living in this recession, which is the biggest bargaining tool I've had all my life. Especially in wine. There are a limited amount of buyers and a lot of wine going unpurchased. If you're not out there negotiating prices as a mult-unit chain you're doing yourself a disservice,” said Tylor Field, vice president of wine and spirits at Morton's Steakhouse.

“A lot of people put the ix-nay on new products or development coming in. For those people that are forward thinking and are ready to go when the turnaround hits, those are the people that are going to see the results of keeping the development flying,” Kathy Casey, president of Kathy Casey Food Studios and Liquid Kitchen said.

I was still tired after my almost 16-hour trek to New Orleans, but made an effort to stop by the reception party hosted by Beefeater Gin in order to see who I could run with.

Don Lee and John Deragon were heading up the apprentice program this year. With a lot of the juicing outsourced to kitchen staff, the plan was to give apprentices more time actually batching and preparing the different drinks and attending seminars. At the reception Don told me that this year the group was definitely larger than the last with more than 30 people on the apprentice list.

I saw Daniel Eun, who now lives on the West Coast studying law, but he still finds time to bartend.

A lot of last year's apprentices, like Daniel, returned for a second go around. Folks like Cassie Fellet, LaTanya White, Thomas Waugh and Jacquelyn Leon.

I saw some new face working the events as well like Nicholas Jarrett from Apothecary in Philadelphia.

I walked around saying hi to folks when I found myself at a table Stephen Beaumont and his wife Maggie were stationed at. The last time they'd seen me was when I almost mowed them down drunkenly stumbling out of the phone booth as I was leaving PDT quite a while back. I was sheepish to say the least.

Stephen Beaumont said, "I've been telling several people...this year is the year Tales goes huge."

Not that last year or the year before weren't huge affairs, but this year it definitely seemed...well...just humongous. I was curious as to what this year was going to be like.

Tales of the cocktail announces official cocktail: The Creole Julep

In the annual Official Cocktail Competition finals that took in April. Maksym Pazuniak, mixologist at Rambla and Cure, snagged the honor of creating this year's official cocktail for Tales of the Cocktail.

Creole Julep
Created by Maksym Pazuniak, Cure/Rambla

2 1/4 oz. Cruzan Single Barrel Estate Rum
1/2 oz. Clement Creole Shrubb
1/4 oz. Captain Morgan 100
2 dashes Fee Bros. Peach bitters
2 dashes angostura bitters
8-10 mint leaves
1 Demerara Sugar Cube

Muddle sugar, Creole Shrubb and bitters until sugar is dissolved in a 10 oz. tall glass. Add mint and press to express oils. Add cracked ice. Add Cruzan and Captain Morgan 100 and stir until frost appears on outside of glass. Garnish with mint sprig.

In second place was the Joie de Julep, created by Corey Bunnewith of Drinkin. And awesomely enough, third place went to the Ginger Peach Julep, created by Wayne Curtis, a freelance journalist. One for the writers!

Judges included Author David Wondrich, Mixology Research Engineer Robert Hess, TV Personality, Lorin Gaudin, Yuri Kato, Editor of CocktailTimes.com and Chris Hannah of Arnaud's French 75 Bar.

Random Tales of the Cocktail update: Danny DeVito

Some of you probably already know about this, but for anyone who's on the fence about going to Tales of the Cocktail you should know that Danny DeVito will be there.

That's right, according to the good folks of Tales, Danny DeVito will be in attendance. Mr. DeVito is a producer not just of films but of premium liqueur as well. Unless you've been under a rock, you've probably heard of Danny DeVito's Premium Limoncello. He admitted to having overindulged in the stuff with George Clooney during a now infamous appearance on The View. Me? I say you can't even possibly buy celebrity endorsement any more raw than that. It was freakin' awesome. I'm also a fan of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," so I could be biased.

Tangent: Speaking of celebrity endorsements, I was watching Lady Gaga's video for "LoveGame" a little while back and realized the pretty prominent presence of Campari and wondered how "LoveGame" stacked against Busta Rhymes, P Diddy and Pharrell's ode to the cognac of Napoleon, "Pass the Courvoisier" when it came to songs about specific alcoholic beverages. Though I thought it was weird because I don't know how much Campari would catch on with the "kids trying to relive the Club Kids days that truthfully they aren't 'reliving' because they were still in diapers then" crowd.

Tales is still months away, but I celebrated it with Saveur

Jan. 2

Interesting facts gleaned from the evening.

1) Punch is delicious. (more of a restatement rather than a discovery)
2) Eben Freeman listens to T.I.

I usually sneak into Tailor right when it opens and run out way before the night really begins for people with real lives, so I'd never really been in the place when there's lots of people in it.

The event was in anticipation of Tales of the Cocktail (coming to a New Orleans near you, June 2009), and to say, "Hey, we're partnered with Saveur now." So it wasn't all bartenders, but a mix of bar folks, brand folks and media types. Don Lee and John Deragon were there, but bailed out early to my indignant cries of "Weeeeeeeeeeak saaaaaaaauuuce." As I squeezed my way to and fro in the crowd I spotted other familiar faces. I was pleased to see that Allen Katz was still sporting his a la souvarov and there was also Tony Conigliaro, whom I hadn't seen since Tales. Even Camper English from the West Coast was in attendance.



I'd brought my friend Marc Almendarez along to take photos for me. Longtime readers may recognize his work from our previous collaboration at a Rhum Clement contest a little while back. The lighting in Tailor is very tricky and I've always had terrible luck taking photographs there and on a more personal level Eben Freeman has been poking fun at my not so stellar photo work. So I decided to prove him wrong...by having a friend take photos for me. Hey, it's a solution of sorts. That place is like expert level, and I am not an expert, so why not borrow the expertise of a friend. And for the record, I am totally capable of taking decent photos. Sometimes.



There were two punches being served for the first part of the evening. The first was Captain Radcliffe's Punch. The recipe comes from a 17th century poem written by and English army captain and as Dave Wondrich called him, a "rake," Alexander Radcliffe. It's made with Ansac VSOP Cognac, Sauternes, freshly grated nutmeg and lemon. The second was the Regent's Punch. Dave explained the punch's origin to the crowd. It was named for George the IV, the 19th century prince regent. While George III was busy being mad, George IV was busy running the country, and this particular punch was his favorite tipple. I don't blame the guy. First, because ruling a country instead of your nutty dad is a tough job that could drive anyone to drink and second, this stuff was delicious.



The plan for the latter half of the evening was a time for folks to talk to Ann Tuennerman about Tales and what to look forward to. Since this portion of the event was to be sponsored by Hendrick's Gin, a gin drink would be necessary. As people were still dipping into the punchbowls I watched Eben at the other end of the bar vigorously shake a small container. I was curious but went back to busily filling my glass with what punch was left before they swapped out drinks. I chatted a bit with Jordana Rothman from Time Out New York who was telling me how she read my blog. I know, I was surprised too. Apparently, people actually read this thing.

I turned around to the bar again after talking with Jordana to see if there was any more of that punch. Troy, who was working behind the bar with Ashley that evening, pushed a small beaker-type vessel in front of me with liquid that looked kind of like beer.

"What's this?" I asked.

Troy said it was the Pimm's Pony. A drink of Eben's from back in the WD-50 days. It was Pimm's, gin, Sprite and a bit of cucumber foam made by shaking some cucumber juice. Cucumber juice? Well, I don't know if extract is the word. That makes it sound like it's from concentrate or something. Juice works, right? I mean, it's just liquid from cucumber. Cucumber water? Anyhow, I then figured out that that's what I saw Eben shaking a couple of minutes before. I also realized that this was supposed to be the gin drink for the "after" party and I'd unofficially started the after party 10 minutes before everyone else. Not that I'm complaining.

I offered Simon Ford a sip from my scientific chalice as I talked to him about his vacation in South America. He couldn't be at the Beard Off because of the trip, but his beard was able to make an appearance sans him, thanks to modern container technology. Just then Eben passed by and overheard Simon ask what was in the Pimm's Pony and Eben gave the list of ingredients and said that the cucumber foam was there to fool you into think it'd be a smooth, soothing drink, only to have it punch you in the gut.

I joked to our food editor Mr. Bret Thorn and his friend Blain Howard that at some point in my life getting handed strange drinks that a lot of times just sort of magically appear at the ready became part of my job. As if to drive this point home, as soon as I finished what was left in the beaker-glass I was nursing, Ashley set down a full-on wine goblet of more Pimm's Pony in front of me.

"Oh, dear," I thought. I was hoping to make an early escape, but as Tony Abou-Ganim once told me, wasting alcohol is a terrible thing. I tried to soldier on through a couple of sips. I ultimately gave up the fight and walked away. If I continued, I would've risked stumbling into work in a disreputable state the next day because the Pimm's Pony definitely had a healthy kick to it not unlike an irate, er, pony.

Tales of the Cocktail 2008: The end of the end

I'm going to finish up my blogging about Tales (a good two weeks or so after the fact) with some photos that I managed to snag. Not a whole lot since I spent much of my time eyes wide open with a deer in the headlights look on my face, but a handful nonetheless.

To tell the truth, plenty more happened down at Tales than what I pithily managed to record here on this blog, but they seem to be more of the "you had to be there," variety of stories — if they are publishable to begin with that is. Sort of like a really drunken dysfunctional family reunion. Or would that qualify as a typical family reunion? Which, OK, I admit sounds bad, but kind of speaks to how as far as conventions or conferences go, Tales is a pretty personal get together. And it really was a fantastic experience. Besides, you can't spell "dysfunction" without "fun"! Wocka, wocka, wocka!

But to get serious again, let me say that as I talk about cocktails, bar practices or techniques on this here blog, every now and then I wonder if I sound way too much like I'm attempting to be some kind of social historian. I just find it hard to divorce the drinks from their stories though. Without the who, what, when, where, how and if available, why of these drinks don't make their way in somehow, the cocktails get relegated to mere formula and that's a shame considering the conviviality that many find inherent in drinking culture. Besides, as its own class in the grand scheme of food and drink, cocktails are a chattersome bunch full of their own stories and characters. Could you really ignore talking about it? It'd be like standing up King Lear on stage to recite his lines without a set or the benefit of other characters. It'd make for an interesting one man show if done right, I suppose, but you're not exactly getting the full story. Pick up a copy of a good cocktail book, whether historical or present, and you can see that when attempting to track down some primogenitor of a classic tipple, the gathered pieces of fragmented narratives play a large part in piecing together the character of the drink. And while cocktail is alcohol and that's grand and all that, the figure of the bartender looms largely behind them.

All this of course is a very long and florid way of saying, I don't have much else to write about Tales, and here are some photos. Though now that I've uploaded it all, I kind of realized I didn't really think through how many photos I have. I guess I could just code in the photos and...well, I've dragged this thing out long enough so everyone will just have to deal with a long scroll down. I don't like it any more than you do. Click on photos to see a larger version.

Sazerac cupcakes!




Tales founder Ann Tuennerman and Sen. Edwin Murray, D-La., at the toasting of the Sazerac's official cocktail status


Paul Tuennerman and H. Ehrmann


Stephen Beaumont and his wife Maggie


Gary Regan


Ann Tuennerman and Robert Hess at the Tales reception party sponsored by Beefeater Gin


Joaquin Simo (Death and Company), Charles Hardwick (Blue Owl Cocktail Room), Jim Ryan (Dressler, Dumont, and Dumont Burger), Alex Day (Death and Company)


Julie Reiner, Tony Abou-Ganim


Eben Klemm, Jared Brown


Charlotte Voisey


Dale and Jill DeGroff


Eben Freeman (Tailor)


Natalie Bovis-Nelsen, The Liquid Muse, making her official Tales non-alcoholic...wait, wait! Where are you going? Come back! I actually kind of liked the NOLita Heat she was making. When I heard non-alcoholic, I thought it'd be a sweet super fruity thing, but it was super tart and spicy. To make it: Muddle 2 jalapeno slices with lime juice in a mixing glass. Ice and 3 oz. of mango juice are added and shaken. After straining into a champagne flute, the drink gets 1 oz of Prickly Pear syrup and topped with alcohol free Brut.


Tad Carducci and Paul Tanguay, Tippling Bros.


Dave Wondrich


Eben Freeman's Ramos Gin Fizz Marshmallow and Sazerac Gummy Bear


Claire Smith's deconstructed vodka and Red Bull (discussed previously with the above items in "Seminar Highlights")


John Lermayer during the Bar Chef Challenge


Aisha Sharpe


John Myers (five billion points on the scorecard in my head for hair and facial hair combo)


Alan Walter

Tales of the Cocktail 2008: Spirit Award winners

Part one of the end of my Tales blogging. Some of the nominees were previously mentioned, here.

I'd never been in a place quite like Harrah's and I felt like I walked miles to get to the theater where the awards ceremony was being held.

"Oh man...so many people! And tables! I'll be at tables with people!" I thought, beginning to panic once I saw all the dinner tables set up. I camped out with Hanna Lee from Hanna Lee Communications for a while and I'd like to thank Mr. Eben Freeman for taking me under his wing so that I didn't freeze up and die by painful shyness.

Here are the winners:

Best Drinks Selection
1806 Melbourne Australia

Best Classic Cocktail Bar
Milk and Honey, NYC

World’s Best Cocktail Bar
Le Lion - Hamburg, Germany

Best New Cocktail Bar
Ruby, Copenhagen, Denmark

Mixologist/Bartender of the Year
Nick Strangeway - Hawksmoor, London, England

Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book
Imbibe by David Wondrich

Best Cocktail Writing
Gary Regan (San Francisco Chronicle)

Best New Product
Fever Tree Mixers

Best Cocktail Menu
Ruby - Copenhagen, Denmark

Best Drinks Brand Representative/Brand Ambassador
Jason Crawley - Maxxium, Australia.

Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award
Dale DeGroff - King Cocktail

Tales of the Cocktail 2008: Seminar highlights

A, I hope, quick run-through of things that I wanted to mention that stood out from a few of the many seminars I attended:

Molecular Mixology, Thursday, July 17:
(Led by Jamie Boudreau with panelists Eben Klemm, Eben Freeman and Claire Smith)

Eben Klemm talked about his background in molecular biology at M.I.T. and how at the time that particular area of study was more of a collection of techniques that were used by other branches of studies such as oncology. Molecular biology was considered more of a tool and in the same way he compared how molecular mixology more or less defines technique and tools used for creating drinks.

One thing that I paid attention to in particular was how even though "molecular mixology" sounds interesting and sexy and gets thrown around a lot, Eben pointed out that honestly it's not exactly something new under the sun. He said that while some people might say molecular gastronomy is technique-based, many of the techniques being used are duplications of techniques already in existence; just carried out more effectively.

For example, a lot of people think of foams as a hallmark of molecular gastronomy, but think about classic cocktails such as a Ramos Gin Fizz or a Pisco Sour with frothy heads created by egg whites. Sure nowadays you might use some kind of ingredient to create a foam with just about anything and not having to rely on eggs, but the basic idea of manipulating flavors and or textures through technique or ingredients isn't exactly a new.

He warned that these are tools that should not be relied on and "we should be focusing on making good drinks."

Claire Smith, a mixologist working for Belvedere Vodka, commented that with her molecular mixology was more micro mixology with the idea of being able to control flavor delivery in new ways.

"It's not our job to scare them off, it's our job to make a good drink," she said echoing what Eben Klemm said earlier.

Eben Freeman addressed the topic of maybe molecular mixology being "over" due to being overplayed. When people ask "Aren't foams over?" Freeman compared it to asking, "Is grilling over?"

Techniques "don't get removed from the lexicon," he said and in fact bartenders owe it to themselves to learn as many techniques as possible, but not just for technique's sake. "This isn't about the shock value."

Eben Freeman brought Sazerac gummy bears and Ramos Gin Fizz marshmallows for every to sample, while Claire presented an elaborate three-piece "vodka and Red Bull" set up with cotton candy, a glass of Belvedere vodka, and a grapefruit flavored marshmallow since, to her, Red Bull had a sort of grapefruit flavor to it.

During the Q and A portion of the seminar, someone asked Eben Freeman about his hard shake video online and Eben actually stood up to say that was his approximation of the technique and it does not do justice for the real hard shake method. He went on to explain that the hard shake isn't about just being a fancy technique that magically create great cocktails. It's not some kind of snake oil to your cocktail ills. It has just as much to do with a way of thinking as you prepare a cocktail and the idea of being conscious of what you're shaking in your shaker. I sat riveted listening to him talk about the technique. It was sort of the first time I actually heard an account that went beyond "here's this cool mystical thing from the East," when talking about the topic of the hard shake.

Not that the extended conversation made it sound any less like a secret ninja training technique, but the gears just sort of finally clicked in place in my head as to why this isn't really a big deal but is at the same time. You can read the recipes, talking about consistency, ice quality, proper tools, but in the end cocktails are still a hand-made product. I'm going to go off the loopy end now.

You could say a cocktail, is a cocktail, is a cocktail, but it's basically an artisan product custom-built every single time someone serves you a glass of something. If you're doing it properly that is.

Eben mentioned how many bartenders are beginning to develop their own shaking styles either based on the hard shake or just from what works for them, and watching bartender do their thing in what probably comes across as highly uncomfortable intensity that's borderline the subject of a song by The Police, you can see it. And not just see it, but even hear it. Whether it's a clinkita-clinkita-clinkita or a chugga-chugga-chugga, whether it's a tight up and down motion or a loose figure eight type of deal, it's basically like a bartender signing his John Hancock on your drink. And a bartender could have several different ways he or she would shake different cocktails. That's what this whole hard shake business seemed to say to me. Thinking about how you shake a drink makes you sort of take a pause. You don't treat the drink making process as just throwing in different tasting liquids into a canister.

...what was I saying? Anyway, as someone who over thinks details a lot of things this was delicious over thinking fodder and I kind of drifted off intently contemplating cocktail shaking.

The Scented Trail: Techniques on How to Develop Aroma in Your Cocktails, Thursday, July 17:
(Audrey Saunders and Tony Conigliaro)

Now I thought this was a pretty cool seminar. Hosted by Audrey Saunders and Tony Conigliaro, this seminar showed that different possibilities could be further explored in creating cocktails. And it wasn't just "Here, smell this," type of seminar talking about just how spirits might smell. Audrey and Tony talked about scents like perfumers pulling out hydrosols and essences that they make or use.

Audry explained the before people were distilling alcohol, they were distilling flowers and plants for a variety of uses. That's where people cut their distillation teeth. And Tony said that perfume works similarly as cocktails.

There were explanation of top notes, middle note and bass notes. How scents break down over time with more volatile smells that hit you first such as florals and citrus on the top end, to scents that come through more like flavors and linger longer on the bass end. Cocktails also have these properties. Smell a cocktail when you first get it all icy cold, then wait until it's warm and sticky to take another whiff and you can smell the difference for sure. Anybody who's ever taken a good smell of a bar after a night of people spilling beer all over the place could tell you that.

It was a seminar full of intriguing tidbits, such as different ways to create hydrosols. Maybe diluting essential oils or creating simple tinctures with neutral grain alcohol. Maybe even distill it to further concentrate the scent.

While Tony mentioned everclear as the an alcohol he might use for tinctures, Audrey said she preferred 80 proof vodka since everclear can be too strong and could "cook" some more delicate ingredients.

By using tinctures and the like, not only did you enchance the cocktail but as a bartender you also get a chance to use flavors and ingredients that are not easily accessible in drinks.

Tony brought out a cocktail inspired by an old Roman drink using mastic and wine. The champagne was absolutely bubbly and light, but got a little oomph to it with a richer richer note from the mastic resin (it needs to be cooked to bring out the flavors and scents!).

Cracking the Egg: The Traditions, Challenges and Potential of Eggs in Cocktails, Saturday, July 19:
(LeNell Smothers)

I only caught the tail-end of this because I had been down in the kitchen for the first hour or so, but I'm so glad I made it in for the last bit.

I'm a fan of egg in cocktails so I wanted to listen in on what had to be said since all I knew was it goes in your cocktail raw, you can use yolk, white or both, and it's delicious.

Little did I know there were issues like your shaker's seal being compromised once the egg and stuff ("stuff" is a technical term) expands inside the shaker. Everyone nodded and murmured thoughtfully when this topic came up. This seemed to be a problem for both Boston or Cobbler shakers. One suggestion was to seal the shaker again periodically whenever you'd feel the seal is not as tight as it could be.

LeNell ended the seminar by bringing up Prairie Oysters. I was puzzled at first because I thought she was talking about these, but she meant this. She wanted to give a demonstration to close things out and asked for a volunteer and Matty Gee got called up.

It all seemed like, you know, the typical audience volunteer thing. She helped him out of his jacket and then...she started unbuttoning his shirt. For those of you who did not go to this, you missed out on LeNell doing a bodyshot version of a Praerie Oyster out of Matty Gee's navel. Let me just say that I thank the Fates for allowing me to be there to be delightfully scandalized. Sadly, I snuck in near the end so I was in no position to grab a good photo, but I'd be very surprised if there weren't some Flickr streams out there right now with photographic evidence because I saw flashes go off.

EDIT!!! A kindly hero left me a comment linking to a fantastic write up on the egg seminar (with photographic evidence!). Thank you, commenter. Also nice to find out that Matty's a NOFX fan.

Tales of the Cocktail 2008: Photos from the juice line

I was going to bust these out at a later date once I got through with some other photos I took of Tales and do a comprehensive photo blog entry, but I've been catching up to things at the office and my other two updates are slow in coming together. So here's something to tide you over for now.

Don Lee was nice enough not only to send me some photos he took of the juice line, but I also have permission to reproduce them here. He instructed me to make note that "the photos were at 9am and that they juiced 26 cases of fruit that day alone."

A mountain of citrus

from l-r: Armando Archundia, Thomas Waugh, Jim Kearns, Chris Hannah, Alex Day, Ryan Fitzgerald, Rhiannon Enlil

Breakfast of Champions

from l-r: Thomas Waugh, Jim Kearns, Alex Day and Ryan Fitzgerald. Yes, that's Ryan soaking a cookie with the communal Rittenhouse Rye. Supposedly, several food items were doused with rye whiskey over the course of Tales and I've heard from two different sources that cold beignets taste the best with the rye treatment. I haven't tried it, but my hypothesis is it would be like a baba au rhum, or baba au rye if you please.


from l-r (at least with the faces I can see): Jim Kearns, Alex Day, Joaquin Simo, Kimberly Patton-Bragg, Armando Archundia


from l-r: Rhiannon Enlil, Jim Kearns, Thomas Waugh, Alex Day, Peter Vestinos, and face not visible, but I know that's Jacquelyn Leon

Tales of the Cocktail 2008: "I love it that we have the country's best pastry chef cutting fruit"

or Apprentices, the people responsible for you having your drinks at Tales

[Note to Don Lee: Thanks for acting as copy editor/fact checker on this entry.]

Thursday night, Muriel's was the setting of "Desmond Payne's Ruby Jubilee" to honor Desmond Payne, Beefeater's master distiller.

While the party went on in the second level of Muriel's, I found myself outside on the balcony suffused with the sound of muffled revelry leaking out into the evening. Drinks sweated profusely in the thick sticky night as I sat in a group that included John Deragon, Don Lee and Daniel Eun of PDT, both Ebens Klemm (B.R. Guest) and Freeman (Tailor), Ryan Fitzgerald of Beretta in San Francisco and Dave Arnold, director of culinary technology at The French Culinary Institute. The group grew and contracted throughout the evening as other bartenders came and left.

I was discussing with Mr. Lee about not wanting to appear like a self-important writer who wrote about bartending because they couldn't. Not that I was being all presumptuous that I could actually bartend, but I really wanted to be serious about the bar trade so as not to waste the time of bartenders I talked to. And I wanted a bit of better understanding about what I was writing. I felt like I lacked in the experience department and was toying with the idea of how to get that.

"You know, like something like street cred," I said, not realizing that I'd inadvertently created a running joke that'd follow me the next couple of days.

"You want bartender street cred? You come juice some lemons and limes in the juice line in the kitchen," Don said. "If you're looking for stories that's the untold story of Tales right there. I've got a pirate-like crew of people working several hours a day."

Don and John were helping Phil Ward (Death and Co.) in a ragtag group of bartender "apprentices". It was kind of an interesting title choice once you saw the caliber of bartenders in the kitchen. They were responsible for batching and creating pretty much all the cocktails served at Tales related events. And if they weren't in the kitchen, they were in the seminar rooms or behind a bar at some event mixing and shaking.

My ears pricked at this suggestion. As informative the seminars had been, to be honest, I could only sit through so many of them and was starting to get a bit of first-timer burnout. At the same time I felt obligated to attend as much as possible to cram knowledge into my head, but it came at a cost. My butt was starting to get tired from sitting and my hands were itching from hearing about all the techniques and recipes.

"Really? I can do that?" I asked.

"Hey John, Sonya's gonna come down to the kitchen tomorrow to get some 'street cred' with us," Don said, the scare quotes practically etching themselves into the almost solid, humid air.

But then I remembered a press event I RSVP'ed to go to the next morning. Could I come in to help an hour in the morning?

"No." John and Don both said.

"You're either in it all the way or you're not," Don said. "The juice line doesn't work that way."

"Oh, come on," I protested. "It's not like I don't want to help. I just have a prearranged engagement tomorrow morning."

"That's called wussing out."

"No, that's called being responsible," I said.

My protestations were soon lost when Dave Arnold said he'd jump in the line and the conversation devolved into an impromptu event to set up a juice-a-thon between Ryan Fitzgerald and himself. Rules were written, and abandoned in the same breath and much smack was talked until Leo DeGroff made an appearance and showed interest in the wager. Apparently Leo's juicing skills is the stuff of legend and something meant to be discussed only in hushed tones of reverence. Ryan, the group's favorite, was quickly displaced by the Prince of Cocktail.

All Friday morning I found myself preoccupied with whether or not the showdown had happened between Ryan and Dave as I sat through a seminar on bitters after a media breakfast held at Brennan's. I wanted to go peek in to see what happened, but feared that I was banned from the kitchen thanks to my wussing out.

After the seminar I ran into LaTanya White, owner of the cocktail catering company 71 Proof in Tallahassee, Fla., as well as one of the apprentices. She said that it should be fine if I go down to the kitchen and helped now. With almost three hours free until I had to be at another seminar, I let Don know I was present to help. Alex Day pointed me to a box of latex gloves. I pulled a pair on and got to juicing. I was going to prove that I could do it and I wasn't just some soft doughy writer sitting in front of a computer who...

"Just wait one goddamn second," I thought an hour and a half later when I realized I had been juicing what seemed like a never ending flow of limes.

OK, maybe, just maaaaaaaayybe Don did Tom Sawyer me into helping out by insinuating both my mettle as journalist and a basic human being weren't up to snuff if I did not participate, but the man had a point about this being hard work. If you didn't see it just walking into hectic kitchen, you certainly knew it after changing gloves for the third time because the juices would penetrate through the latex and make your fingers sting and feeling the your shoulder muscles stiffen from using a a manual juicer, or, as I saw with Alex, having an electric juicer snip at your fingers if you weren't paying attention.

I wasn't the only one pressed (ha!) into service. Dave Arnold, who to his credit did show up at 8 a.m. to help juice, returned to juice some more. Even Jean-Georges pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini, who was attending Tales, popped into the kitchen to see how things were going and offer some morale. But that was his mistake because he also got pointed to the box of latex gloves by Alex. Johnny tried to laugh it off, but you don't joke about the juice line. So he too pulled on a pair and joined Joaquin Simo at his side to help cut limes in half to be juiced.

"I love it that we have the country's best pastry chef cutting fruit," Joaquin later commented.

And if for whatever reason you decide that your life is not complete unless you see someone halve lemons and limes at inhuman speeds, call up Johnny Iuzzini. That man goes through a crate of limes like...like...some kind of...lime cutting machine that cuts super fast.

Don pressed upon me several times that he was not joking about the group being like a pirate crew, and as I stood there listening to the orgeat syrup-like musical stylings of Curtis Mayfield coming out of on iPod dock, taking swigs out of a communal bottle of Rittenhouse and taking in the frequently salty banter of a group of hard working and harder playing bartenders, Don's comparison was ringing pretty true.

(A scene from the kitchen: Photo of Ryan in his "I Hate Cocktails" shirt taken by Camper. Not pictured? The back of the shirt. I'll just leave it at saying that several times on Friday when I'd unwittingly look in Ryan's direction when he had his back to me I'd burst out laughing. Maxwell Britten also gets honorable mention for his "Brown and stirred, bitches" shirt.)

So at 7:55 a.m. on Saturday I was back in the kitchen asking what I could help with. Don said it was a bit easier that morning and I made some lemon twists and orange zest and skipped off to another seminar.

It's kind of hard to see the scale how much these guys did even when you're in the thick of it producing gallons of juice or cutting 350 lemon twists because it becomes repetitive and downright inevitable in some ways. However, once out of the kitchen and throughout the day, I'd spot a lemon twist or an orange twist floating in a cocktail that looked oddly familiar or see how many times lemon and lime juice would come up in a recipe presented during a seminar as people sipped the samples, and speaking of which, how about all the math Don and John were doing to make enough cocktails for a 100 people with a recipe made to serve one? It was pretty insane to realize just how much work these guys were doing.

Don caught me in the hallway of the Hotel Monteleone a little later in the day and said that there was a last minute juicing emergency and I should get in the kitchen if I wanted to help.

Thomas Waugh (Alembic) and Joaquin were busy trying to get wheels and wedges out of limes so they weren't ready for juicing so I got to helping with some lemons.

Death and Co. owner Dave Kaplan made the same mistake Johnny did the day before and got put on the juice line for a while.

Eben Freeman came down to help and was soon organizing people and delegating tasks. Seeing me slooooooooowwwwwly cutting lemon twists (in my defense, I did just learn how to do it that morning) he told me to grab a free juicer to help with the limes while he got on the lemons to get the amount of twists needed and was soon getting them ready to be juiced.

All of the sudden it was like the juicing All Stars. Leo DeGroff showed up and proceeded to own everyone in the kitchen as he deftly manhandled an electric juicer and some unfortunate limes with a two-handed technique that I'm pretty sure broke several rules of physics.

"I give up. There's no way I'm keeping up with that," Daniel Eun said and relinquished his manual juicer and moved over to the lemons side. He wasn't an apprentice and was at Tales to hang out, but he also had been helping out in the kitchen whenever possible.

"Holy crap," I thought as I stared slack-jawed with a look that bordered on abject terror.

"I feel pretty damn useless next to you," I told Leo and was about to give up and go help where my help was actually needed, but he picked up a hand press and showed me.

"Just do it like this," he said and then proceeded to squeeze out a shot of juice that splashed me like I was in the splash zone at SeaWorld. Easy enough for him to say, he's been doing this since he was, like, 16 or something. He handily filled up the 1/3 full container to the brim in a matter of minutes before leaving.

For a few minutes I found myself juicing limes next to Gary Regan and it turned into a Christmas miracle. We thought we needed three more gallons of lime juice, but with the intervention of Saint Gary, when Eben decided to double-check we found out we just needed to top off the one container we were working on. There was more to be done, but at least a majority of the juicing was over with, so I went ahead to go get ready for the Tales of the Cocktail Spirit Awards.

"Thanks for the help," Phil Ward told me on Sunday before the start of a punch seminar he was chairing with Allen Katz and Dave Wondrich.

"No, thank you. It was a learning experience," I returned, and I meant it. Zesting an orange? I mean, I know how to grate, but I don't really do it all the time or anything like that. But thanks to talking to bartenders for so long, I now knew about pith. How else would I have found out that a dampened paper napkin lining the bottom of a container for twists, as well as covering them with another dampened paper napkin would keep them from drying out unless Dave Arnold told me? Sounds like common sense, but I never had to store 200 lemon twists and I don't know if I ever will. Using a peeler to get lemon twists was infinitely easier after Ryan fixed something as simple as where was placing my forefinger. And how would I have picked up the handy tip of soaking some cool limes that had been sitting in a walkthrough in warm water before juicing unless I'd watched Eben Freeman do exactly that?

That's pretty much what I wanted. I wasn't looking for some kind of macho respect when I said street cred, I just wanted to learn how things were done in the day-by-day. I could ask all the questions I had when I visited bars or read all the books I wanted, but what I wanted to know was what was habit to these guys.

"It's stuff like this that's what street cred's about," Don told me one evening. "It's not about who's got the best technique or who's making the best recipes. It's who's staying late to work on the garnishes or staying late to clean up."

So anyways, much kudos to the apprentice program guys. I know I didn't get to meet all of you, but great working with you (and please let me know if I've missed anybody in this list or got anything):

John Paul Deragon
Don Lee
Armando Archundia (the dude came all the way from Switzerland)
Joaquin Simo
Maxwell Britten
Alex Day
Jacquelyn Leon
Rhiannon Enlil
Catherine Fellet
LaTanya White
Ryan Fitzgerald
Chris Hannah
Thomas Waugh
Jim Kearns
Josephine Packard
Kimberly Patton-Bragg
Peter Vestinos

P.S. Thomas Waugh spilled about a pint of lime juice on me. Don and John, you derided me for not having capped him back with my juicer, but I just want you all to know, that's all part of my strategy. Oh, I'm going to get him all right. One of these days. He just doesn't know when or where.

Tales of the Cocktail 2008: "Is the Customer Always Right?"

June 16
Recently in the blogosphere a particular tale of customer dissatisfaction created a minor ripple. Commenters were divided along several lines. Some believed "the customer is always right," then there were those who were sick and tired of snobbery in service when all they wanted was a damn cup of coffee. Others thought the store was well within its right to refuse serving coffee to a customer based on the philosophy of what they served. Some people were even more riled up after reading the coffeeshop owner's response. Finally, there those who thought both parties were jackasses and nobody handled the situation particularly well. In other words it was an anecdote that seemed to illustrate all that could go wrong in a customer-server relationship.

What did this particular bit of "Iced espresso is Not Okay" brew-haha have anything to do with Tales of the Cocktail? Well, when I arrived at Tales, the professional series seminar "Is the Customer Always Right?" jumped out at me probably thanks to this story being in my head so recently. So soon after checking in and running on 3.5 hours of sleep, I slid into a chair for the 10:30 a.m. session.

Moderated by Doug Frost, the panel members were Charlotte Voisey, mixologist and brand representative for Hendrick's Gin, Deet Gilbert, Johnson and Wales faculty member who teaches front-of-the-house practices; Jim Meehan of PDT, N.Y.; and Ti Adelaide Martin of the famed New Orleans restaurant family responsible for establishments such as Commander's Palace and Brennan's.

In an age where many cocktail bars, bar chefs, mixologists, and bartenders are formulating solid drink philosophies not unlike how some chefs have their own food philosophy, how should customer service type issues be addressed?

The topic of how to provide good (or probably more accurately, appropriate) service quickly became a talk about recruitment and training as Charlotte Voisey opened things up by stating that a lot of talk about improvement revolves around improving the bar, the design, the ingredients or technique, but "we need to talk about what happens between the bartender and the guest."

Voisey pointed out three important aspects of human resources to improve guest service:

1. Right recruitment.
2. Responsibility.
3. Service as an integral part of training.

Deet Gilbert echoed some of Voisey's points by explaining that "you can't teach the right personality," and in the hiring process bar managers and operators need to look for things in their prospective employees such as how they are dressed, their smile or what kind of personality they have."

And about the old "the customer is always right" adage, Gilbert explained that "It's not always that they are right, but it's to make them think they are right. That's our job."

Jim Meehan spoke from the point of view of the independent bar operator and said that on a day-to-day basis training needed to be tailored to each employee. Even after a prospective bartender manages to impress someone hiring them, different working styles, personalities and skill levels can require different care and training from an employer or manager.

While all this talk of training and recruitment may seem like a detour into an HR seminar, the truth is properly trained employees make good service.

As Ti Adelaide Martin mentioned at one point, the motto drilled into employees at Commander's Palace is that the employees are there to make dining memories. And as providers of not just good drinks, but an overall experience, a staff that is trained well with adequate attention who innately have what it takes can make or break a customer's experience.

"We are in the hospitality business," Martin said. "We are not here to show off our technical skill."

Not that technical skill or knowledge doesn't have a place. Especially in the world of high-end cocktails or beverages.

Voisey gave the example from her early bartending days when she'd hate serving single malt whiskeys because she wasn't too knowledgeable in the area. And instead of being able to discuss or provide information and product that her customers wanted, she'd find herself pushing the customers onto something else that they did not want.

Then how do passionate people with a large library of skills and knowledge not scare customers?

Deet Gilbert said, "Talk to them like a normal person. Don't talk down to them," pointing out that a too technical bar chef or intimidating menu can sometimes create a chilling effect similar to when customers who are not familiar with wine encounter wine lists in a fancy restaurant.

Martin agreed with Gilbert and told the group that at Commander's Palace, sommeliers go by the title of "wine guy" to bring things down to more of a casual level.

"Ask them 'What do you like? What do you normally drink?'," Martin added.

"Just give them the vodka cocktail," Meehan said. "That's what pays the rent...They'll sit for ten minutes drinking and will see other cocktails and will order something else because they'll realize they're in a cocktail bar."

Doug Frost then asked the panelist when would a customer be wrong?

"When they're abusing our staff," Martin answered immediately, but then added, "For us it has to go pretty darn far" before any action is taken. Touching an employee is verboten.

"We expect customers to treat us we treat them. It goes two ways," Gilbert commented.

"It's when they take you out of our comfort zones," Voisey said.

Voisey said with so unwritten rules in bars, having a culture or policy defends the bars so people can know clearly when they've stepped over the line.

Meehan said that the customer is wrong when they begin to affect the experience for other customers. And when he asks a particularly loud customer to keep his voice down or asks another to refrain from using uncouth language, that particular chided customer might leave in a huff, but usually once the rules are explained they are understanding and other customers are appreciative of the effort to maintain a certain mood or experience.

The panel members also agreed with the importance of being able to take criticism as well as taking initiative to find places to improve.

Martin said she when she walks around Commander's Palace she'd ask customers how they were doing and most times they'd answer that things were fine. Nonetheless she'd ask again to truly find out if everything was working for a customer by saying, "Listen, I don't learn anything from compliments."

Taking initiative towards improvement can be something as simple as in being on the lookout, just as if a restaurant patron leaving food can be a sign of dissatisfaction, Voisey explained that the look on a customer's face in that unguarded moment of the first sip can speak millions.

In fact, the idea of a reputation as being perfect can be an impediment towards good service by creating expectations built high that can topple like a deck of cards and keep staff members on edge. Meehan brought up how back in his Gramercy Tavern days, customers brought in with them their own high hopes and interpretations of what a Danny Meyer dining experience was and ended up expecting to "levitate on their way out."

"Perfection is not the goal; excellence is the goal," Meehan said.

Tales of the Cocktail 2008: New York, July 16th

June 16

I arrived home from work at a little after 8 p.m. on Tuesday the 15th. I had a 7 a.m. flight the very next morning. After finishing half my packing I took a "nap" at 11:30 p.m. and dutifully woke up at 3 a.m. to finish what packing I could before heading to the airport.

As I stood in line bleary-eyed for a breakfast burrito that ended up tasting better in theory than in reality I turned around and noticed Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller get in line behind me.

"What a coincidence," I thought. Or so I thought.

Once I got to the gate my plane was departing from, I saw that there was a small group congregated near it...and I recognized them all.

I said hello and good morning to Allen Katz, Paul Tanguay, Kenta Goto and Damon Dyer. Damon was asking if anyone knew where to get some lemons. This was an important fact to note and it would be most fortunate that I ended up sitting next to him.

I think I passed out from sheer exhaustion as the plane took off, but I was soon wide awake as the flight attendants were making their way down the aisle for drinks. I asked for a Coke and got my soda with a cup of ice. Damon asked for tonic water and two cups of ice. Our flight attendant looked at him funny, but acquiesced.

Damon eyed my cup and solemnly told me, "Save your ice."

He informed mixologist Gardner Dunn, who was sitting in the row head of us, to do the same. Wising up to what was going on, Gardner stressed that he wanted "a lot of ice" with his drink order.

The flight attendant again looked slightly suspicious but Gardner got his request. He turned back around and gave Damon a thumbs up and handed his cup back.

After giving a perfunctory assessment of the situation, Damon began pulling out small bottles of brown spirits and made me sniff one of them saying that it'd been pre-doctored with bitters and began pouring the contents out over the ice. The smell of bitters seemed to linger with a vengeance in the recycled air of the plane's cabin. The lemon search had been unsuccessful, so he ended up using some orange juice (later on, he'd take a swig of the juice and wrinkling his nose declare that it was "pretty terrible. I'm ashamed I even put that in there.")

He then reached into another pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag filled with lemon peel and begins to squeeze and drop them into the drinks. After passing one to Gardner I got a cup of my own.

Holding his plastic airline cup up he said, "Cheers. Welcome to Tales."

I lifted my own cup and said, "Cheers."

Countdown to Tales of the Cocktail 2008

Did you know that the Sazerac was designated Official Cocktail of New Orleans earlier this week? I never really contemplated whether or not New Orleans had an official cocktail, but I was kind of surprised to find out that it wasn't already considering it is the cocktail's hometown and all that. I don't really understand all the civic intricacies of designating anything an official something, nor do I know each individual city's history of official things so I shouldn't be the one to talk.

Anyhow, there's going to be an event celebrating this new designation for Antoine Amédée Peychaud's contribution to the annals of beverage history...ON THE DAY I ARRIVE IN NEW ORLEANS. According to the media alert, complimentary Sazeracs and Sazerac cupcakes (I have several ideas of what the latter might actually entail, but all conclude with me eating them) for everyone starting 2 p.m. The organizers do not play. Considering that there are events kicking off around 9-10:30 a.m. almost everyday of Tales of the Cocktail, it's more indicative than something of an anomaly.

With a little less than a week before I head down to New Orleans, all the emails I've been getting regarding Tales of the Cocktail finally has me facing the fact that I need to try and organize my schedule. I've been pushing this off because it combines two things I do not enjoy. Organization and planning ahead. And for those of you reading this blog regularly, that's two more things I've revealed about myself on this blog that makes me sound like not that much of a winner.

It's not that I can't do said things, it's just they're on a list of many "Things I Do Not Enjoy That Just Happen To Also Be Things You Need to Do To Live an Adult Life in Modern Society." Like filling out forms for example. It can take me an hour to fill out a one-page form because I'll stop every two boxes and go wander off and do something else before coming back to it. If you want to include the time it takes for me to work up the gumption to actually go and fill out the form after I first receive it, I average about four days to a page.

There are plenty of seminars and events going on. I do have some events that I really want attend, but I haven't really even begun to figure out where time conflicts exist and things of that nature. For example, I just realized that "How to view Beer as an Ingredient" is happening at the same time with 'Jerry's Kids: The life, drinks and legacy of Jerry Thomas." Both things I would love to attend. And do I even have time to go on the New Orleans Original Cocktail Tour?

This is exactly why for the past couple of weeks whenever I've been asked whether or not I'm going to Tales my answer has been, "Yes...and I'm a little scared."

I guess "intimidated" would be a better word than "scared" because any interaction usually goes like this:

Person X: "Are you going to Tales?"
Me: "Yep!"
Person X: "It's going to be awesome.......but, oh ho ho ho..."
Me: "What?"
Person X: [Insert some reference to drinking way too much than is humanly healthy, or not getting to your hotel room until 4 am]

This event is work. And not to say there won't be other people working at this event as well, I mean, this is work for me in that I have to do things like remember details accurately. Remember them at all for that matter. Last I checked copious amounts of alcohol and brain activity did not come together unless for some kind of awesome disastrous story your friends told you after the fact that might as well have happened to someone else because you might have been there physically, but in no way mentally was that the same person as you. Or in one story a friend told me of an acquaintance of his, realizing you somehow transported a Col. Sanders statue from the front of a local KFC to the roof of your building in your inebriated state.

I'm taking much of this in stride. First off, no matter how you cut it this will be an awesome event as well as learning experience. I still feel like just a kid in many ways about this whole cocktail business and I'm going to run myself ragged running around to different events and get me some education. And it's a little ridiculous to be worried about an event celebrating cocktails because of course there will be drinking. At the same time I'm reminding myself that it's not like I will be forced to drink a lot (right??) and everyone's got their own pace that they'll follow. And really, it's a great opportunity to celebrate cocktails, enjoy some quality drinks and meet some new people and finally talk to some of those whom I've only talked to via phone or email.

It seems like The Museum of the American Cocktail won't be opening until the 21st. I hope there's some way to take a gander at the place before it officially opens.

Tales of the Cocktail announces Spirit Awards Nominees

(Note: Photos courtesy of Tales of the Cocktail)

May 12

The place was spookily calm and quiet when I arrived at the Flatiron Lounge for a Tales of the Cocktail event compared to the last time I'd been there for a Tales event.

I sipped on a Punch & Judy, the winning cocktail for the Tales of the Cocktail Official Cocktail Competition, and talked a bit with Francis Schott as well as Hanna Lee of Hanna Lee Communications Inc., whom I run into often and finds it ridiculously cute that I speak Korean. I mostly knew Mr. Schott through emails about drinks that I regularly receive from Stage Left Restaurant, and we talked about his podcast radio program, "The Restaurant Guys," which he hosts with his partner Mark Pascal.

Then all of the sudden the doors burst open and it was instant chaos. The bartenders had arrived. They were returning from a croquet tournament that started at 11 in the morning.

I said hello to Mr. Dale DeGroff and spotted Gary Regan who looked (awesome) like a weathered Texas Ranger out of a spaghetti western version of Gandalf the Grey with his long coat, hat and flowing locks. This means that so far I've seen Gary Regan in three different incarnations.

There was a lot of new people meeting. Jonathan Pogash was there. I hadn't seen him since the Grand Marnier summit in Vail, Colo. There was also Maxwell Britten, who you can find behind the bar at Jack the Horse Tavern in Brooklyn. I didn't really get to talk to him when I saw him previously at the Rhum Clement event, so I was glad to chat. I finally met the other half of the Tippling Bros., Paul Tanguay, as well as the third founding member of Contemporary Cocktails Inc. who was always mysteriously absent, Kristopher Karr (he explained that he had been out of sight because he was working with a bar out of the country for the past 14 months).

As more people pressed in I was soon buffeted about like I was inner tubing down some rapids made out of people and bar fixtures. I tried very hard to stay out of the way, but that wasn't happening anytime soon. I even found myself cornered into a pocket created entirely by people and was trapped. Several times I landed myself in spots briefly enough to talk to people, but I was starting to get claustrophobic.

Throughout all this, I noted that the interesting thing about both times that I went to a Tales of the Cocktail Event at Flatiron Lounge is it feels very different from other events I go to. You feel like the bartenders and mixologists know they can let their hair down.

(l-r: Julie Reiner, Charlotte Voisey and Ann Rogers)


I finally rooted myself in a spot long enough to hear Ann Rogers, founder of Tales of the Cocktail, announce the Official Cocktail Competition winner and runners up. Charlotte Voisey, who won $1,500 for her winning Official Cocktail entry, said during her acceptance speech that she would be giving her prize money back to Tales of the Cocktail.

Nominees announced were for categories of:

Best Drink Selection
Cantina - San Francisco, USA
Death & Company - New York City, USA
Der Raum - Melbourne, Australia
Doheney - Downtown Los Angeles, USA
The Merchant Hotel - Belfast, Northern Ireland
Salvatore's Bar at Fifty - London, England
Trio Bar - Berlin, Germany
Matterhorn - Wellington, New Zealand

Best Classic Cocktail Bar
American Bar - Connaught Hotel, London, England
Bramble - Edinburgh, Scotland
Death & Co. - New York City, USA
Dukes Bar - Dukes Hotel, London, England
Experimental Cocktail Club - Paris, France
Flatiron Lounge - New York City, USA
Milk and Honey- New York City, USA
Bar Le Forum - Paris, France
The Merchant Hotel - Belfast, Northern Ireland
Montgomery Place - London, England
Widder Bar - Zurich, Switzerland

World's Best Cocktail Bar
The Flat Iron Lounge - New York City, USA
Le Lion - Hamburg, Germany
The Lonsdale - London, England
The Merchant Hotel - Belfast, Northern Ireland
Milk & Honey - New York, USA
Milk & Honey - London, England
Paparazzi - Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Salvatore at Fifty - London, England
Star Bar - Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

Best New Cocktail Bar
Bar Milano, New York City, USA
Beretta, San Francisco, USA
Death & Company, New York City, USA
Le Lion de Paris, Hamburg, Germany
02 Lounge, Ritz Carlton, Moscow
PDT (Please Don't Tell), New York City, USA
Ruby, Copenhagen, Denmark

Mixologist/Bartender of the Year
John Gerstern - No.9 Park, Boston, USA
Kenta Goto of Pegu Club - New York City, USA
Charles Joly - The Drawing Room, Chicago, USA
Duggan McDonnell - Cantina, San Francisco, USA
Erik Lorincz - Purple Bar, London, England
Jim Meehan - PDT, New York City, USA
Ago Perrone - Montgomery Place, London, England
Sam Ross - Milk & Honey New York City, USA
Nick Strangeway - Hawksmoor, London, England
Charles Vexenat - The Lonsdale, London, England
Philip Ward - Death & Company, New York City, USA

Other categories included Best Cocktail Writing, Best New Product, Best Cocktail Menu, Best Drinks Brand Representative/ Brand Ambassador. New award categories were also announced along with the nominees. There was the Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book Category and the Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award.

Here are the recipes from the Official Cocktails Competition:

Best of Show
Charlotte Voisey, mixologist, Hendrick's Gin brand champion

Punch and Judy
1 oz Martell VSOP
1/4 oz Old New Orleans Crystal Rum
1/2 oz Hendrick's Gin
1/2 oz Bols Orange Curacao
2 oz pineapple juice
1/2 oz freshly squeezed lim juice
1/2 oz orange juice
1/2 oz Partida agave nectar
2 dashes Angostura bitters
4 mint leaves

Second Place
Debbi Peek, master bartender, The Drawing Room at Le Passage

Nola's Nectar
1/2 oz Martell VSOP
1 1/2 oz Old New Orleans Amber Rum
3/4 oz Partida Agave Nectar
1/2 oz fresh grated ginger
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz water

Third Place
Kristi A. Svane, bartender, Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa

Big Easy Milk Punch
3/4 oz Martell VSOP
3/4 Old New Orleans Amber Rum
3/4 brown sugar simple syrup
2 oz milk
2 dashes cinnamon
1 dahs nutmeg
1 slice orange
1/2 oz fresh squeezed orange juice (no pulp)

Honorable Mention
Erana Hardy, bartender, Cafe Giovani

Hardy Punch
100% Blood orange juice not from concentrate
1 shot Old New Orleans Amber Rum
1 shot Martell
5 oz Mereo Red Wine