This year marks my 5th time at Tales. Yep, I’ve been going since 2007 (I had to check to make sure) and every year it gets bigger and better. Now, I’ve heard some people say that they liked it when you could actually walk through the Monteleone’s lobby or get on an elevator, without waiting 15 minutes, but I disagree. If it stayed that way it would be a clear sign that we’ve made no progress, but Tales is becoming a massive event which shows that people are catching onto this cocktail thing.

As for presentations, I’m participating in two – “Sodatender or Barjerk” with David Wondrich and the Pro-Series session “Your Own In-House Soda Program” with Andrew Nicholls. After each presentation I will be doing a book signing for “Fix the Pumps” in the lobby. If you have a copy feel free to bring it and I’ll ink it, if you don’t have a copy Octavia Books will have a bookstore setup just off the lobby for you to buy one.

In addition to the presentations, the Tales Blog torch has been passed my way which means I’m now in charge of it. If you’ve signed up for a media pass on the condition you will blog, I now own you. Okay, not quite but if you will be contributing to the blog please feel free to contact me and I’ll get you setup.

For those of you who can’t make Tales this year, here’s how you can follow along. First, the Tales Blog will have regular, daily updates from myself as well as Marleigh, Camper, Chuck and Craig and others. We will be writing about all the things that happen during Tales 2011 including all of the special event parties as well as behind the scenes stuff. Ever wanted to see the forced labour camp where we keep the Cocktail Apprentice Program volunteers (CAP’s), this year you just might.

You can also follow us on Twitter and our respective websites:

Marleigh @nerdling (http://sloshed.hyperkinetic.org)
Camper @alcademics (http://www.alcademics.com)
Chuck @sazeracla (http://looka.gumbopages.com)
Craig @doctorbamboo (http://drbamboo.blogspot.com)
Darcy @dsoneil (http://www.artofdrink.com)

Additionally, if you feel like drinking from the information firehouse, you can follow the Tales of the Cocktail hashtag #totc. You can also find some of us on Facebook.

With that said, I must now go and start work on the Tales recipe ebook, which is the collective recipes of all the drink experts participating at Tales. Last years book had about 750 recipes, so if you want to see what world class bartenders are creating and drinking, you will be able to pick up a copy at the Tales website.

Wow, what a week. This year was bigger and better than last year. In fact there were so many people I wanted to have a drink with that there just was enough time. But I did manage to drink my fair share and chat with a lot of people. This year I went as a presenter and not media. I presented 3 sessions, plus helped out on Andrew Nicholls Essential Oil session so I was busy. I tend to feel obligated to do what I’ve agreed to do, and as a media blogger I would have felt compelled to write which would have added way to much to my already full plate. So instead, here’s a summary.

Click on through to read the rest.

Darcy’s third seminar at Tales (busy man!) is “Soda’s Influence on Cocktails,” which discusses the influence of the old-time soda fountain on bartending and cocktails. He discusses it on his site, so click through to read more.

The world of book publishing has changed significantly with the fiendishly rapid development of the Internet. Less than a decade ago, if you wanted to publish a book you needed to get a publisher, or if excessive rejection wasn’t your thing, then a vanity publisher would fill your garage with books for a hefty price tag. Today that has all changed, and aspiring writers can now get their stories out easier than ever. This is especially important for drink writers, ‘cause really, how many cocktail or bar books does a traditional publisher need?

At Tales of the Cocktail 2010, Darcy O’Neil will present a session on self-publishing that will highlight his experience with his book Fix the Pumps, among others. Darcy has written an extensive preview of his session on his blog, The Art of Drink. Click through to check it out.

In the culinary world umami is an extremely important component of great food, in the cocktail world, not so much. The key reason for this is that the benefits of the umami flavour in cocktails hasn’t really been explored by many bartenders. Caesars, Bloody Marys and bacon infused bourbon contain umami, but they don’t represent the full breadth of the umami flavour and its potential in cocktails.

At Tales of the Cocktail 2010, Darcy O’Neil will present a session on Umami in Cocktails, in his typical functional scientific style. Darcy has written an extensive preview of this session, on his blog, The Art of Drink. Click through to read more.

As soon as Tales of the Cocktail gets started, it seems it is over. As a friend said, too many drinks makes the nights go by fast. But, most people used their time very well and made the most of the sessions, parties, bars and the city. There are hundreds of posts and comments about the event showing up on the blogosphere and this is my small contribution to such a big event. This is how it went down for me.Sleepy, Hungry, Inebriated, but Having a Great Time

The first day was probably the best from a purely entertainment standpoint. Even though I had only had two hours of sleep spanning a 41 hour period from 7AM on Tuesday July 15 to midnight (I think) July 16 (Wednesday) I managed to keep moving.

I left home at 1AM (Wednesday) and arrived at the hotel at 2PM-ish. From there it was drinks, heading to different drinking events (blogger reception, Tales reception, party at the Arnaud’s French 75 bar). Also the day included hitting a number of bars that I generally liked including the Napoleon House and Jean Lafittes Blacksmith Shop. The main problem for the day was lack of sleep and not eating. I had breakfast and that was it pretty much for the day. Oops. For the most part, a great day.

Thursday started off a little rough, partially caused by Wednesday. I quickly got my stride back and made my way to a couple of sessions (Molecular Mixology and Scented Trail).

I ate a decent breakfast (Bignets and coffee). Actually the coffee isn’t great, but good enough to deliver caffeine. Lunch was pretty good (jambalaya) at Remoulade, but a bit early (11:15AM), but I was still hungry from the day before.

It was the Spirited Dinner night and last year I had such a great time with Chef Chris DeBarr that I was really looking forward to it. Well, it didn’t work out that way and the restaurant that I was at seem less than enthusiastic about the event and were lacking almost all of the ingredients I requested for the evening. I rewrote my menu on the fly and it seemed to work out ok.

A few other things went wrong, which led to me working behind the bar and not participating in the dinners. Usually the “Bar Chefs” get to eat, but not me. I’m a professional though and I made sure the paying guest were happy.

At about 11PM I headed out to find something to eat. Most of the good places were packed or closed so I ended up eating some street food. Blah! I couldn’t finish it so I made my way back to my hotel room at 12PM and called it a night. That was the second day in a row that I went to bed hungry, in New Orleans of all places!

My goal Friday was not to go to bed hungry. More importantly it was the day of my Sensory Perception session. I spent the morning talking with people and handing around a couple of sessions. I also did a video with Robert Hess for the Cocktail Spirit. After lunch I decided to lock myself in my room and do some work for my Sensory Perception session.

People had been telling me that the sessions was going to be big and I had only stuffed 100 envelopes with tasting strips. They are a pain to do, but I decided to pack another 60 envelopes just in cases. Luckily I did because the session was standing room only (150 plus)

The session looked like it was going to get off to a rocky start. The gin and mix for the cocktails hadn’t arrived and Milo (Sapphire mixologist) was stuck in traffic. We also didn’t have anyone to mix the drinks. Jamie Boudreau jumped in and said he’d make drinks and Keith Waldbauer (more on him later) jumped in to give a hand. Now, the panel was kind of short by one person so Audrey Saunders suggested Eben Freeman jump in, and he graciously did. So needless to say the session had one of the biggest cocktail brain trusts once you add Robert Hess to the panel. I thank them all for making the session great. Once the clock hit 4:30, it was one of those presentations, that for me, felt very good.

After that I hooked up with the Tiki guys (Craig, Rick, Craig, Blair, Matt) and hit Stella! for some fine dining. I didn’t need bigger pants, but I didn’t go to bed hungry!

Saturday was more sessions and a brief trip with Jeffrey “Aquaman” Morgenthaler over to the Cocktail Cinema gig. After that we managed to make it to the Garnish session just in time for some Wild Hibiscus Flower drink / garnish. More on that in a future post. I also stayed for the Making Your Own Ingredient session.

My last night in New Orleans was spent having a few drinks. I managed to join Helmut and Paul Clarke for a drink at the Carousel Bar. After a while we headed our separate ways, me to find the sold out Tiki Party. Well, by the time I got there it was over. But Keith was coming out so we decided to try to find others. Keith and I managed to hook up with Gabriel, Joana, Rocky, Morgan and Rob. We ate dinner in some dive bar, which was perfect. Then we went to the Carousel Bar and drank until about 12:30 at which point I called it a night and headed to my room to pack.

Sunday morning was an early flight out so I left the hotel at 8:30. At the airport Gary Regan joined me for the flight to Philadelphia. He was actually on thew same flight as I was on into New Orleans. Gary is as you would expect a great guy. I made it home by 11PM.

Coolness Award
Keith Waldbauer gets it this year. He was helping out everyone when they needed help with their session and just being cool and friendly.

Synchronized Swimming Award
Jeffrey Morgenthaler wins this hands down. Nobody was more dedicated to ensuring there was a Cocktail Blogger presence at the pool.

Have you ever wondered why one person loves a drink and another hates it? Most people have a basic understanding of personal preference, but do you really understand what makes a persons taste buds tick? What if you could harness the knowledge of someone’s individual preferences? That is part of the goal of Sensory Perception and Mixology. At this session we’ll be discussing a whole lot of technical details, in a fun and entertaining fashion, on the way humans taste.It shouldn’t come as a surprise that how we perceive flavours is more than just what our tongue touches. Most people know that aroma / smell accounts for a large part of the enjoyment of food and drink. But did you know that your mood affects how you taste and that what the person drinking beside you also has an influence?

Beyond that, genetics plays an important role and one of the highlights of Sensory Perception and Mixology is that we will be screening for the TAS2R38 gene using a genetically specific taste test. During the event, everyone will be given the opportunity to try a PTC taste strip (similar to PROP). Basically, this is a piece of paper impregnated with a chemical that can only be tasted by people with the TAS2R38 gene. People with this gene fall into the Taster category and those who don’t, are called Non-Tasters.

The Taster category is actually split into Normal and Super tasters. The difference between a Super Taster and Non-Taster can be significantly different and their choice of drinks are sometimes at the opposite end of the cocktail spectrum. Serving the wrong drink could be detrimental to your tip!

The other part of the equations is whether you are a super, normal or non-taster. Knowing what you are can really help bring your cocktails to the next level, because it will help to “calibrate” your palate. This session is your opportunity to find out a little about yourself.

I’ll be providing extra taste strips to everyone who attends so they can take them home and test their spouse, friends, co-workers, etc. It is actually very entertaining to watch some people taste the PTC paper.

If that wasn’t enough, we’ll be sampling a couple of simple cocktails to demonstrate how sweet, sour, salty and bitter influence one another. We’ll also go through many taste relationships to help you create better cocktails. The applications are endless, but as an example, a lot of the knowledge in this session can be applied to things like “diet” cocktails. By manipulating the recipe with various aromas, viscosity modifiers and ethanol concentrations you can actually make a drink taste sweeter than it really is. Intrigued yet?

Last, but not least, I have encouraged some of the top bartenders / mixologist to join me for the session. Audrey Saunders (Pegu Club, NY), Robert “Drinkboy” Hess and Jamie Boudreau have kindly agreed to sit on the panel and help create some entertaining, yet informative, dialogue.

I’m burning the midnight oil to get this session as good as it can be, so if you are in New Orleans on July 18 drop by the Monteleone at 4:30pm and check out Sensory Perception and Mixology.