Impressions from TOTC, Vol. 1

Posted on July 25, 2008
Filed Under Keith Waldbauer |

Keith Waldbauer is a bartender at Union in Seattle. He chronicles his interest in bartending and cocktails at Moving at the Speed of Life.

Impressions from Tales V.1

As I busily prepare for my upcoming wedding and continue to tend bar every night, I thought I’d try and squeeze in a few quick hits from my notebook and the boozy memories left in my noggin. . .

“I am an alcoholic with a bartending problem”, Angus Winchester, from the Rum, Ron, Rhum panel. I have to say of all the panels, this one was the most lively. Wayne Curtis expounded on rum’s history, Chesterfield Browne got me fired up for Mt. Gay, Ben Jones talked about rhum agricole in a scratchy voice, and Mr. Winchester brought the house down with the sheer force of his infectious personality. I only wish I had written down more of his one-liners.

Okay, let’s get this out of the way: Charlotte Voisey is drop-dead beautiful. Get past it. The woman made several of the most memorable cocktails of the week. I attended her Spirited Dinner at August (food and drink porn from Anita Crotty) and several of the cocktails knocked my socks off. Her panels were great, too. Oh, and her Punch and Judy won official cocktail status of the 2008 TOTC. The woman is smart and talented.

Tony Gabou Anim, in addition to being a master of his craft, is absolutely a dynamic speaker.

I usually don’t get star struck. My father was a musician, so I got to meet several stars when I was young. However, I found I couldn’t get the courage to introduce myself to Dale DeGroff, Ted Haigh or Gary Regan. I did however, get to talk to David Wondrich and, one of the highlights for me, Beachbum Berry.

The Munat Brothers are everywhere. Fear them.

The bloggers are everywhere. You don’t need to fear the bloggers so much. But feel free to make fun of them. Everybody else seems to.

The bartenders suites, both of them, were good fun, if a little crowded. The Fabulous Shaker Boys were doing some good stuff, particularly with the genever gin Old-Fashioned. One of the more surreal moments was when Jamie Boudreau got all frat boy on me during his spin behind the bar. I didn’t know he had that in him.

Oh, and Jamie, quit referring to yourself as lazy. . . . you got nothing on me.

The Carousel bar is kinda cool. For about a minute. Then, that spinning thing gets annoying.

The Swag-Off was cool because it was impromptu, and the bartenders that night were exactly the guys I wanted to hang out with. And did. The unfortunate thing is that, since the samples are so small, only a few get to try the drinks, so I’m not sure how this could be a larger event.

Jean Laffite’s Absinthe House. Somehow, this joint became the unofficial after-hours jam. I might have embarrassed myself here. Thinking of it now has my liver doing the Wilhelm Scream.

That’s it for Volume 1. Stay tuned for Volume 2.