Which, probably, is a good thing.

(Oh, and if you’re interested in rum, check out this great article on saveur.com by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, a perennial favorite in our house.)

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Tickets for seminars, parties, dinners and events are selling out quickly, so if you have any notion of going you should get yourself in gear and start booking. Just look at this excerpt from my most recent post on the Tales Blog (full of great behind-the-scenes previews of events):

This year Iris is hosting a Spirited Dinner featuring Todd Richman, Corporate Mixologist for Sidney Frank Importing, as well as mixologists Mark Stoddard (Bitter Bar, Denver) and Spencer Warren (Embury and Firehouse Lounge, Pittsburgh), who will be mixing cocktails using Michael Collins Irish Whiskey, Bärenjäger, Gekkeikan sake and American Harvest Organic Spirit.

Dinner will be a four-course affair by chef Ian Schnoebelen, featuring guanciale on bruschetta; a salad of duck prosciutto, soft-boiled duck egg, fennel and pecans; diver scallops and wild boar bacon with edamame hummus; and 
a chocolate terrine with goat cheese quenelles and blueberries. Hungry yet?

Get yourself cracking and reserve your seats, tables and rooms—Tales of the Cocktail is always a party you don’t want to miss.

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Post tags: csowg, drink.write, new orleans, tales of the cocktail

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Just when you thought I was done with posts related to Tales or absinthe, I’m back with a post related to Tales…and absinthe. I heard mutterings from various parties about the amazing Absinthe Suissesse from Café Adelaide and, because it was a hectic, nutty week, didn’t even have time to register what it was or investigate until I was back at home reading everyone else’s blog posts. (I really need to look into cloning myself next year so I don’t miss out on anything.)

As it turns out it really wouldn’t have done me much good anyway, being a breakfast sort of drink made with cream and egg white. Back on the homestead, though, absinthe is one of our favorites and we couldn’t wait to whip up as many different absinthe-based cocktails as possible. Naturally, the Suissesse Chuck posted came to mind. Purportedly created at Brennan’s, the Suissesse is a New Orleans institution, found on menus across the city. Not to be confused with Swiss absinthe, which style is called absinthe Suisse, I found that I liked this better with a milder absinthe that doesn’t have a lot of herbal flavors aside from the anise. (...) Continue reading Absinthe Suissesse

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Post tags: absinthe, cocktail, orange, orgeat

Back in the bad old days when we had very few books and even fewer reputable ideas about what good cocktails were, we blogged the Singapore Sling. The recipe had a few of the major particulars right—it used gin and cherry brandy and curaçao—but that was where the similarities ended. Much the same as the Negroni, the guy who wrote our first bartending book had some strange ideas about putting club soda into drinks where it did not belong. Though there is debate over whether or not soda water belongs in a sling (and specifically this sling), in the first recipe I posted the formulation with soda water did nothing for the flavor of the drink, primarily watering it down and making the whole thing “meh.”

In the intervening years, I have supplanted those recipes of yore with the better, more accurate ones, but I have not re-blogged the Singapore Sling. This recipe came from the Juniperlooza session at Tales and was, hands down, one of the best versions of this drink that I’ve ever tried (as Gabriel has also noted).

The Singapore Sling is actually a slightly controversial drink. Created sometime between 1910 and 1915 at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel in (where else?) Singapore, the original recipe, likely called the Straits Sling, was lost somewhere in the interim and both the version currently made at the hotel and any subsequent variations are all best guesses based on the memory of older bartenders and some notes found here and there. Without the original recipe there isn’t a conclusive answer to the confusion surrounding the drink, but I must say that I liked this version infinitely more than the last one. Take that with a grain of salt, but do give this version of the Singapore Sling a try. (...) Continue reading Singapore Sling

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Post tags: cherry, cocktail, gin, lemon, pineapple

1. “All cocktail bloggers have an affinity for technology (sorry Dr. Bamboo), are video gamers, have played or still play roleplaying games, enjoy shows like Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, and Iron Chef, love good food and cooking, are crazy pompous about cocktails, and most importantly, are genuinely nice, fun, and great people (even Jamie).” This is absolutely true. Cocktail bloggers, as a rule, are feckin’ awesome.

2. Chuck Taggart does indeed have the lowdown on the best restaurants in the city. And eat the fries at Lüke. They’ll blow your mind.

3. I have not seen a blowjob in an X-ray before, but thanks to LeNell I have a new goal to achieve before Tales 2009.

4. All 10:30 seminars should be forbidden so that I can get some sleep between the hours of 3 am and whenever I feel sober enough to get out of bed.

5. Bring an extra bag and bubble wrap so that you can check in luggage that doesn’t clink when you put it on the plane.

6. Find Martin Cate’s house and dig in the backyard, because he buries jugs of punch back there! (Or maybe just get my lazy ass up north and go to his bar.)

7. Do not, under any circumstances, order a Vieux Carre from the Carousel Bar when it is crowded. You will get something that neither looks nor tastes like a Vieux Carre (and I’m still not sure what exactly it was other than dark red and sweet).

8. Don’t ride the elevators in the Monteleone unless you have an extra half hour to kill.

9. The Bienville House pool is open 24 hours. The Monteleone rooftop pool is not.

10. Monteleone wifi sucks, so head down to Decatur and get an awesome Bloody Mary at Attiki to go with their free (and fast!) wifi. (Side note: more bars need free wifi.)

Before I start my final post on Tales, I need to give a huge thank you to all the friends, old and new, who we spent time with in New Orleans. To the bloggers and bartenders who made up the majority of our crew, it was a treat to spend time with such a talented, friendly, interesting, fun group of people. I feel fortunate to know you and to have been able to attend Tales with you. To the Los Angeles bartending contingent, it was awesome to see you all in NOLA. LA represent! To Jeff and Blair, thanks for the gifts. I promise to reciprocate at some point in the future. To Ted and Charles Munat, thanks for including me in your book. It’s an honor to be printed among such great company. And lots of gratitude and love to our friends: Chuck and Wes, Craig, Ted, J.T. and Kate, Jeff, Zane, and our new friend Bob, we couldn’t have had such an amazing experience without you!

And now, on to the highlight reel: (...) Continue reading The Final Word

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The huge amounts of alcohol that one imbibes during Tales has turned me into a photo blogger this week. The short version of the last three days goes like this:

We started the day with a hilarious panel called Jerry’s Kids, led by David Wondrich, Ted Haigh and Brian Rea. It was a free-form discussion about famous bartenders that were not Jerry Thomas, full of fun anecdotes about “The Only” William, the second most famous bartender in America during the nineteenth century.

That was followed by a once-in-my-lifetime experience to have a Pousse Cafe made by David Wondrich with real Créme Yvette provided by Rob Cooper, the progenitor of St. Germain. The panel was composed (again) of Ted Haigh and David Wonrich as well as Rob Cooper, Chad Solomon of Cuff & Buttons and Joaquin Simo of Death & Co. You’ll all be happy to know that Créme Yvette will be making its way back to the market soon, and a new version of Forbidden Fruit will eventually be making its way back to the market.

After ogling (and sampling) some original Forbidden Fruit, we headed for Gary Regan and LeNell Smothers’ Essential American Whiskey tasting. It was amazingly entertaining and delicious, with the big surprise being the Evan Williams black label. I unfortunately prejudged the bottle based on the appearance of the label and was happily surprised with how delicious it was. We worked our way through some other very great whiskey—Old Fitzgerald, Bernheim’s, Rittenhouse and Elijah Craig—then each of us made the largest Old Fashioned ever. If you’re never been fortunate enough to see Gary or LeNell speak, I can’t recommend them highly enough. The seminar was informative, fun and, naturally, blue (in the best possible way).

When the seminars ended we gathered with all the other LA bartenders/writers/friends and had po’ boys at Mandina’s at Chuck’s recommendation. For those of you who have doubts about Chuck’s reliability as a food guide, allow me to tell you that I have experienced it first hand and he knows what he’s talking about. If he tells you to eat somewhere, eat there.

The next day we kicked the day off with more jocularity at the Potions of the Caribbean seminar, featuring Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, Stephen Remsberg (owner of the world’s largest private rum collection), Martin Cate of Forbidden Island and rum aficionado and writer Wayne Curtis. The Bum put together the single best PowerPoint presentation I’ve ever seen and we learned about the rather dubious ways that sailors acquired rum on the high seas (it involves pickled dead monkeys), the very storied role that Cuba played not only in classic but in tiki cocktails, the flavor profiles native to various Caribbean Islands, and tasted four great drinks, though two were absolutely fantastic: the Rum Pot and Jasper’s Jamaican Cocktail.

Afterward we wandered about town for a bit and went to see Robert Hess, Jamie Boudrea, Paul Clarke and Erik Ellestad discussing making ingredients at home. We tasted the ever-awesome Tequila de mi amante made with Partida, falernum, orgeat (props to Erik—this was great). We learned a lot about precisely how lazy Jamie actually is (answer: very) and had a special guest in the form of Daniel from PDT who discussed their process of fat-washing, which is how they create bacon-infused bourbon for their Benton’s Old-Fashioned.

We spent the night wandering along Frenchman Street and had a lovely dinner at Bennachin, where we enjoyed delicious Gambian and Cameroonian food from West Africa, then had a beer with Paul, Erik and his wife, Chuck and Wes and some other new friends, and rolled out of bed this morning in time for the 12:30pm seminar titled “The Flowing Bowl”. David Wondrich, Allen Katz and Phil Ward from Death & Co. treated us to a lively discussion on the history and application of punches, complemented by a very large bowl of punch which provided first and second glasses for a room full of people.

Phew. It was been a long, wonderful, entertaining, informative, alcohol-filled five days. I’ve had a great time and enjoyed all of the seminars immensely. It’s going to take me a week or so to recover, but now I’m going to spend some time playing tourist with my remaining hours in New Orleans. I may be back with more exploits of drunken cocktail shenanigans, but not until I’ve had some lunch…

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The day started at Juniperlooza, the gin panel hosted by Ryan Magerian of Aviation Gin. Also on the panel were Phil Duff, bartender from Holland and our genever expert, Desmond Payne, master distiller for Beefeater, and Simon Ford of Plymouth Gin. We sampled eight various gins, from genever to Old Tom to New Western and everything in-between…plus four cocktails. The Improved Holland Cocktail was first and incorporated genever, followed by the Jasmine Cocktail, a variation of the Pegu Club invented by Paul Harrington, an absolutely delightful Singapore Sling and an Aviation-based cocktail called the Pepper Delicious.

We followed that up with the Cognac and Armagnac tasting, featuring liquors from Jerez, Cognac and Armagnac. The hosts, Edward and Deborah, walked us through tasting nine various liquors in a range of ages and styles. The highlight was tasting the Castarede Blanche, a completely unaged armagnac. Surprisingly (in my brandy ignorance), unaged brandy tastes exactly like pisco. It’s amazing to move through a tasting of the variously aged brandies and see what a few years in an oak barrel can do. Which statement sums up pretty much my fascination with liquor and leads us to the next seminar: Making Your Own Spirits.

Led by Matthew Rowley of San Diego (whom I met by happenstance on Wednesday without having any idea he was leading this panel), Mike McCaw and Ian Smiley joined him in a thorough discussion of the basics of the history and craft of home distilling. Unfortunately we were double booked and missed the Artisan Still Design seminar, but found the discussion of the various legal restrictions on distilling in America very interesting. Did you know you can lose your house for distilling liquor at home, but are allowed to produce up to 300 gallons each of beer and wine every year? Neither did I.

The glut of information was followed with a side-by-side tasting of Absolut vodka, Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon moonshine and Bar Sol pisco and the revelation that alcohol can ignite in the absence of oxygen. How that’s physically possible I’m not sure, but who am I to question?

After the last seminar it was off to the Diageo Cocktail Hour with Chuck Taggart and Wes where the David Wondrich made us a drink, then off to dinner with Dr. Bamboo.

After a beer and some delightful food at a little bar called Attiki (with the greatest Bloody Marys ever—no, seriously), we headed to the St. Germain suite to be treated to cocktails made by Marcos Tello and Eric Alperin, great guys and all-star bartenders from Los Angeles…not that I’m biased. Rob Cooper, Mr. St. Germain, even jumped behind the bar with Eric for a bit.

After hanging out with friends old and new (and really, really new), I had to pack it in at 2am to be up and at ‘em for this morning’s David Wondrich-Brian Rea-Ted Haigh seminar. More about that tomorrow, as it’s time for lunch and big ol’ Bloody Mary!

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Post tags: tales of the cocktail

It was a trip to finally put faces to all the names in the cocktail blogosphere—Paul of Cocktail Chronicles (our fearless leader and public speaker), Jeff Morgenthaler, Darcy of Art of Drink, Rick of Kaiser Penguin, Dr. Bamboo, Gabriel of Cocktailnerd, Jay of Oh Gosh!, Seamus of Bunny Hugs, Blair of Trader Tiki…so many people I can’t even keep track of everyone. Of course, Natalie the Liquid Muse is vlogging the whole event, so we’re all on camera being convivial.

Afterward we made off with the ever-awesome Chuck of Gumbo Pages (and Wes, even though he would prefer to remain anonymous) and headed to the beautiful Absinthe Museum for a tasting.

After a few glasses, we headed back past the Monteleone for the Palace Cafe and the Beefeater Welcome Reception. Everyone (at points it felt like everyone in the French Quarter) shared some lovely gin cocktails and mingled, until we decided that dinner was in order and wandered over to Lüke for some late-night refueling.

Now it’s off to do some tastings before Juniperlooza gets started…

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Billy Walsh, a cook at Craft Restaurant and a waiter at Osteria Latini, was heading to work on his Vespa on May 22, 2008 going westbound on Olympic. A driver heading east, attempting to make a left hand turn, didn’t see Billy and tragically hit him with her car. Billy was treated for swelling and some bleeding in the brain, a collapsed lung, fractured ribs and leg lacerations. After two weeks in a coma and some therapy, Billy was been released and has returned home. He still faces another major surgery to replace part of his skull (!), but his family and friends report that he is recovering well.

Billy had just completed his externship and been hired on at Craft and was uninsured when the accident occurred. As you can imagine, the extent of his injuries has resulted in enormous medical bills. To help alleviate some of the financial burden, chefs and bartenders from all over LA are coming together and putting on a fundraiser next Monday, July 14th.

If you’re in town, please join some of Los Angeles’ very own food and beverage elite as they put on a night of unbelievable cocktails, food and entertainment to help raise money for Billy Walsh:

Balsh-stille Day
Monday, July 14, 2008 | 7pm
The Foundry on Melrose
7465 Melrose Avenue | Los Angeles, CA 90046

Participating Chefs:

• Eric Greenspan – Owner and Executive Chef of The Foundry on Melrose
• Ray England – Sous Chef at Craft Los Angeles
• Lisa Vega – Pastry at Providence Restaurant

Participating Bartenders:

• Eric Alperin – The Doheny (formerly of Little Branch NYC & Osteria Mozza)
• Christine D’Abrosca – Beverage Manager at Malo Restaurant
• Chris Ojeda – Osteria Mozza
• Marcos Tello – Comme Ça and The Edison
• Damian Windsor – Gordon Ramsey at The London
• Plus: Steve Olsen, Andy Seymour, Jacques Bezuidinhout and Leo DeGroff

Entertainment provided by DJ Spider

Each $40 ticket (donation) includes dinner and dessert, entertainment and a cocktail. All further cocktails are available to purchase and all proceeds go to Billy’s medical fund. Tickets can be purchased in advance through PayPal (send money to wisemc at gmail dot com) or you may pay cash at the door, and you can always email for more information.

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If you haven’t been keeping up with the Tales Blog, there are a whole passel of bloggers converging on Tales this year and we’ve been working hard to provide sneak previews of the great panels and events that are scheduled. I’ve managed to work out a pretty open schedule for my time, so I thought I’d post the places I’m most likely to be; I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone, so please say hi if you see me (I have a long list of people who I am hoping to run into, though I’ll probably wind up stuttering and looking like an idiot once I do).

We’ll be arriving on Wednesday after a brief visit with a friend in Texas, but I’ve worked out a rough itinerary—meaning these are the places I want to be when I’m not touring cemeteries or listening to jazz (or staggering around town drinking). (...) Continue reading TotC Countdown: 21 Days

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Post tags: tales of the cocktail