The New Friends You Meet (and run into again and again) at Tales of the Cocktail
Steve Schul and Paul Zablocki (Cocktail Buzz) ply their love for cocktail and food pairings on their Web site, Cocktail Buzz, and their blog “Buzzings.”
The Cognac Summit was the first cocktail we imbibed after we landed in New Orleans. Shaken at the Tales of the Cocktail Media reception at the French 75 Bar [...]
Forging Your Own Path At Tales Of The Cocktail
The Tales it is a growing. Every year the madness grows exponentially. And in response to this growth, the expert Tales attendee must adapt to the new rules, rules that become somewhat clear just in time for it to be too late. Remembering the new rules is an entertaining process, but serves no real purpose, [...]
Stop Press! The secret of the El Presidente
STOP THE PRESSES!
Well, that was dramatic. My apologies for the additional post and the drama, but unfortunately we’re unable to edit our posts once they’re published, and I left out something important.
The El Presidente, a classic cocktail of Cuban origin from the era we discussed during David Wondrich and Jeff Berry’s Around the World via [...]
Around the World by (Brass) Rail
I wish my high school history classes had been a tenth as fun as this one.
Historian-of-booze David Wondrich and guru of all thinks tropical and drinkable Jeff “Beachbum” Berry led us on a survey of the global reach of America’s greatest ambassador to the world at large — the cocktail (and the julep, cobbler, smash, [...]
An Important Tales Rule
When you come to Tales of the Cocktail, you will meet dozens, if not hundreds, of people during the week. Often your mental faculties are impaired by the judicious application of alcohol which makes remembering dozens of names difficult. One of the rules at Tales should be that when groups of people come together you [...]
Second Ice Seminar: The Chainsaw Shift
There were two seminars on ice this year at Tales of the Cocktail. The first one, reported here, showed the evolution of ice programs in New York bars and what equipment one needs to have an ice program in a bar.
Today’s seminar is about the West Coast style of ice program: buying a big block [...]
Tales 2011 Day One
Tales of the Cocktail always starts off with a bang, and this year was no different. Aside from my sixteen hour travel day, where I was temporarily refused entry to the US and missed three flights, Tales has been great. Continue
The Spirits of Spirited Dinner: Rio Mar
When you know you’re about to enjoy a dinner cooked by chefs Adolfo Garcia and Frank Stitt, what could be more apropos than a flight of aged Panamanian and Puerto Rican rums–unless it’s four cocktails made with those rums?
When those cocktails are made by rum aficionados/nerds/madmen Martin Cate (Smuggler’s Cove, San Francisco) and Wayne Curtis [...]
The Carousel after 5
The Carousel Bar at the Monteleone is a hub (figuratively and literally) of activity during Tales of the Cocktail. During the day it’s both a convenient meeting place and a handy spot for a quick drink to fortify yourself before venturing out to other watering holes. This makes it a very busy place [...]
Shhh! It’s a Secret
In the seminar entitled Shh! It’s A Secret, we learned about Coco-Cola’s history as a “tonic wine,” got some inside as to how Lillet is made, learned a great deal about bittering agents, and we learned about a fungus found in fernet that sucks bitter flavors out of tree bark. Weird.
Read all about it over [...]
