1) It’s fun in an old-world mad-scientist kinda way.
2) It may make your cocktail luxuriously smooth and even add a bit of wood character.

For over an hour this afternoon, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Gable Erenzo and Naren Young hit the highlights of this relatively new approach (with roots in older practices) to fiddling with cocktails. Booze nerds like these guys are always on the hunt for ways to improve your drinking experience, and barrel-aging cocktails is one of the latest methods that’s gaining popularity in cocktail programs worldwide.

Here’s a few informational nuggets they shared…

~ Bottled cocktails originated in the Jerry Thomas era as way for customers to take drinks “to-go” and enjoy later. Being that I’m New Orleans as I write this, I can’t help but think the “go cup” phenomenon here somehow owes its existence to this earlier incarnation.

~ In the early 1900’s, the Heublein company sold pre-made cocktails that had been aged in wood.

~ A few years ago, Tony Conigliaro began experimenting with aging cocktails in glass, prompting modern bartenders to rethink the concept and apply it in new ways, using different materials, spirits and processes.

~ Experimenting with barrel-aged cocktails coincided nicely with the internet making it easy to contact distilleries and procure their used barrels.

~ Much as single spirits do, aging a cocktail in a barrel will allow it to pull distinctive characteristics from the wood. However, using new barrels can be risky because too much wood flavor can be imparted very quickly. Score another point for recycling!

~ It easy to overage a cocktail, but if that happens, it’s not a lost cause. Often simply introducing more fresh cocktail to mix can salvage the batch.

~ While experimentation is encouraged, using ingredients like eggs, cream and citrus should be avoided. But I’m sure our intrepid bartending community is already hard at work coming up with a way to get around this though.

~ Generally speaking, lighter, unaged spirits like gin, vodka, unaged Tequila etc., seem to yield the best results.

~ For those not inclined to wait several weeks for a barrel-aged cocktail to reach maturity, you can get quicker results (and satisfy any latent gadget jones you may be experiencing) by using smoked wood chips and an iSi whipper to infuse your cocktail. I’ll need to track down specific instructions for this asap.

Now go find some barrels!

The focus was mainly on the hotel bars of London, with occasional detours to other cities. Anecdotes abounded, histories were revealed, and as expected, cocktails were served. Here’s a sampling of the wealth of information that was provided…

~ Unlike most “regular” bars, working in a hotel bar makes you realize you have to think beyond local drinking preferences. Your are catering to a varied clientele, and have to be prepared to meet a broad spectrum of expectations drink-wise.

~ Hotel bars have spawned great bartenders, great drinks and great bar guides. Every time you name-drop someone like Jerry Thomas or Hugo Enslin you have a hotel bar to thank. Likewise the Savoy Cocktail Book or Charles Baker’s Around the World With Jigger, Beaker and Flask. Ever had a Pina Colada or Hanky Panky? Just two of many classic cocktails that originated in hotel bars.

~ The Savoy was the first hotel in England equipped with electricity. ( I like to think having a world-class bar on the premises played a role in this).

~ The Criterion bar (which still exists) is the location where Sherlock Holmes and Watson first meet. It also has the distinction of being the first “American style” bar in England.

~ Until recently, bartending in the UK was not considered a reputable occupation, and doing so in a hotel bar was even less prestigious. Fortunately this perception has reversed in recent years and many hotel bars in the UK are leading the way in quality cocktail-crafting.

~ Part of what makes a good hotel bar experience is the idea that it is not only just a drink stop, but also a place where you are taken care of. Some “regular” bars certainly provide this, but it should be a priority for hotel bars.

~ Martini enthusiasts owe it to themselves to make the pilgrimage to Duke’s, which is famous for its exacting, signature Martini preparation which uses no ice, shaking, or stirring. All the ingredients are kept chilled, and are simply, elegantly combined in the glass. Ian Fleming was a regular there, and was fond of these. If they were good enough for him, they should be good enough for you.

~ The Connaught Hotel is another London cocktail destination famous for its attention to detail and tailoring of drinks to the customer’s preference. Connaught bartender Ago Perone says of his customers: “We are not there to tell them what to drink” and puts that idea to practice by offering a selection of bitters for patrons to choose from when ordering a Martini.

~ The concept of the fine cocktail experience goes hand-in-hand with that of the fine dining experience. If a hotel has a top-tier restaurant on he premises, then the bar must be of similar caliber.

Book your room now! (or at least swing by for a cocktail)

But after 5, things change a bit. Everything slows down a little and the crowd thins out. Some no doubt head for dinner. Some probably look to take things uptempo and head to a livelier bar. Some take a nap and/or a shower before considering their next move.

This is when I like the Carousel best. The lights seem a little dimmer, the music a little softer, and the drinks a little smoother.

This is also when I’m more aware that the Carousel moves. Not just moves, but turns, slowly revolving and treating me to a gentle magic carpet ride that always brings me back to where I started. It makes me feel slightly sorry for the folks in the chairs around the edge of the room…they’re missing out on the fun.

I also have a theory that a moving bar helps keep things civilized. It’s hard to get rowdy when you’re on a slo-mo merry-go-round. It likely has something to do with being rocked as a baby, but I’m not going to question it too deeply. All I know is that bars come in many shapes and configurations, but I’m coming to the conclusion that round is ideal. And if your round bar also revolves and is decorated in an old-time amusement park motif, then all the better.

The one other thing I like about the Carousel is the array of unobtrusive mirrors placed behind the bar. You can easily ignore them if you like, but I happen to think occasionally seeing your reflection aids in self-reflection. Plus, you can tell if someone is sneaking up behind you. Genius, as far as I’m concerned.

So I think I’ll have one more round. And one more go ‘round.

~ I know it doesn’t rank very high on the list of existential dilemmas, but I always have trouble deciding whether my first drink during Tales of the Cocktail should be at the Carousel Bar or on the plane to New Orleans. (Yes, Tales officially begins when they board your section of the plane. Wasn’t that covered during orientation?)

~ Speaking of which, why does a can of Coke always taste better on a plane? I think it has something to do with altitude. And maybe that an attractive woman opens it for you. And maybe that mine had whiskey in it.

~ Not to beat the plane thing to death, but when did commercial airline flights become flying produce stands? The guy in the seat in front of me brought an entire bag of plums as a snack, and the woman two seats over had a banana and a sack of strawberries. I really had to fight the urge to muddle something.

~ After flying all day, stepping out of the airport shuttle in the middle of the French Quarter is a bit like landing on Mars…if Mars had a bar every 15 feet

~ Some hotels have a basket of fruit or a flower arrangement waiting in your room as welcoming gesture. Mine had a bottle of gin. I think I prefer that option.

~ Never, ever, underestimate the simple, restorative properties of a nice shower. With gin.

~ In most busy places, you can cause a riot by throwing fistfuls of cash into the crowd. In the Monteleone lobby you can achieve the same result with bottles of obscure bitters.

~ I was starting to get uncomfortable with the New Orleans heat, then I went to the Beefeater party and saw a ballerina dancing inside a plastic bubble. Remember: it can always be worse.

~ I’m not exactly sure how using goats and cows to promote your product works, but I predict that all the PR and marketing types will pounce on it, and we’ll be seeing a lot more livestock at future cocktail events.

~ I didn’t think it was possible to make an Airstream trailer any cooler-looking, but putting retro tattoo designs on it is a decent start.

~ Drinking in a big crowd can be fun. Drinking in a big crowd while wearing a whimsical sailor hat and surrounded by old tanks and fighter planes is bonus fun.

~ I know the local bars and restaurants make a ton of money during Tales, but whoever is selling mutton chop sideburns and tiny hats is making the real cash.

~ Did I mention the showers already?

~ Based on how crowded the Kahlua bar at the Monteleone is, I’m guessing next year we’ll be seeing a satellite event titled “Tales of the Coffee” where everybody gets jacked up all day and then has to spend the next morning drinking booze to get settled down.

~ While it’s probably not ergonomically correct, sitting on a nice, cool marble floor and leaning against a nice, cool marble wall is an ideal way to use a laptop computer. A nice, cool cocktail helps too.

With Tales of the Cocktail officially kicking off in less than two days, I have time to sneak in just one more preemptive strike before the madness gets in gear. This time I had the opportunity to chat briefly with Jonathan Pogash. In addition to being a top-notch bartender, Jonathan also consults on cocktail matters with bars and restaurants worldwide as well as several spirits brands. As if that didn’t keep him busy enough, he’s also swinging by Tales of the Cocktail this year to moderate the panel discussion “The European Bartending Perspective.”

I didn’t want Jonathan to give away the store, so I asked him to just tease us a bit with some of the topics that will no doubt be discussed…

~What are one or two of the biggest differences between bartending styles in Europe and the US?

There are more similarities than there are differences, really. When developing this seminar we had a ball debating the topic. One difference is cocktail menu style and layout.

~ Guest bartending (where bars encourage members of their staff to visit other bars and work a shift or two) is a popular phenomenon in the US. Does this sort of thing happen in Europe as well?

I know several American bartenders who have been welcomed with open arms behind bars across the pond.

~ Do the drinking habits of the average European bar patron differ from that of their American counterparts? If so, how do those differences affect how bartenders approach their technique?

The main difference is that of US cocktail lounge vs. UK pub and cocktail bar.

~ Are there any specific drink ingredients that tend to be staples of the cocktail scene in Europe that may be unfamiliar to most American drinkers?

With the way our world is now, most ingredients are available on both continents. Except for the fact that sodas are made differently in Europe than in the US (i.e. Coca-Cola).

~ Do bartending techniques and philosophies in Europe differ from country to country? (For example, are there subtle differences between the way bartenders practice their craft in Italy vs. France?)

Let’s see what Simon Difford has to say about this one!

“The European Bartending Perspective” happens from 3:30 to 5:00 pm July 21 in the Grand Ballroom North at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. It is currently sold out, but check with event organizers in case there are any cancellations.

Rolling along with the pre-Tales “Cavalcade of Booze Knowledge” ™ I got the chance to grill Christine Sismondo on her presentation “The Bad Boys of Saloons.”

If you don’t know Christine, she’s the author of America Walks into a Bar: A Spirited History of Taverns and Saloons, Speakeasies and Grog Shops, as well as Mondo Cocktail: A Shaken and Stirred History. She also contributes drink columns for Report on Business and Eye Weekly magazine. She kindly let me toss a few questions her way regarding her upcoming seminar.

What were the main characteristics that distinguished these types of places from their more upmarket counterparts?

There was an “anything goes” ethic in play. The main idea was to do whatever it took to get patrons in the door and keep them there. Many of the drinking establishments during this period (the 1850’s-1900’s) were what were called “tied houses”, which meant they were affiliated with a particular beer company. Due to the exclusive nature of their relationship with one specific brewer, their profit margins were very low, so there were a lot of frauds and scams happening in order to boost the bottom line.

What were some of the drinks commonly found in these places?

In addition to whatever the house beer was, there were a lot of drinks that were basically un-aged white whiskey with other things added to make them palatable. These could contain a multitude of flavoring agents as well as drugs like camphor, for instance.

Can you describe the types of people who frequented these types of bars?

There was a popular perception that these types of places catered to the worst people engaging in the worst drinking behavior. The impression was that it was just immigrants getting plastered, and that dovetailed with the general demonizing of whatever the most recent wave of “just-off-the boat” people was. The truth is that you were just as likely to encounter questionable behavior and poor drinking habits in the upscale bars. As a matter of fact, you were quite likely to find well-heeled citizens slumming in these places, but that’s a story unto itself.

What prompted the creation of these types of establishments? Was it simply an attempt to offer cheaper booze and undercut the competition?

The thing to keep in mind is that everyone was in the booze business during this time period. Grocery stores, pharmacies, soda fountains, and almost any merchant you can think of sold some type of alcohol. In the 1840’s the average person drank twice as much alcohol as today. It was part of daily living, and was considered good for you. With that kind of consumption, the demand for booze was high, and sales were unregulated as well. The result was a tavern, grog shop, or liquor vendor within easy reach almost anywhere.

Could you find these places in almost any city or town? How widespread were they?

There were times where cities or counties would go dry, but even then there were ways to get booze to the public. It was pretty commonplace, even in places where the law stipulated there was to be no liquor sold.

Due to their illicit nature, were these places able to weather prohibition any better than the higher-profile reputable joints?

These places were generally fly-by-night joints, so they were used to being under constant threat of shutdown. Since they were accustomed to closing and reopening at a moment’s notice , prohibition really didn’t impact them…although everyone was forced to get creative during that time.

“The Bad Boys of Saloons” happens from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm July 21 in the Queen Anne Ballroom at the Hotel Monteleone. Go here to purchase tickets.

Continuing with the pre-Tales festivities, we check in with Ed Hamilton. Ed is a noted authority on rum, and has written about various sugar cane spirits for a number of magazines and newspapers. He has also written two books on the subject, and is probably most familiar to rum enthusiasts for his work at the Ministry of Rum website.

In a little over a month from now, Ed will be escorting us through the tasting /seminar “6 Rums You’ll Probably Never Have the Opportunity to Taste Again.” He didn’t want to give too much away beforehand regarding these mysterious rums, but he did let a few things slip…

Is this the first time that a rum tasting of this kind has been held at Tales of the Cocktail? Or anywhere else?

Yes, to my knowledge.

Have any of the rums you’re showcasing ever been bottled for sale before?

No.

What are some of the reasons these aren’t made available for mass consumption?

Low production. There’s only a little bit of these rums around anywhere.

How much blood, sweat and tears went into rounding up all these great rums and getting them in the same place at the same time?

I’m lucky to have good relations with a lot of distilleries, so the hard part will be getting them transported to New Orleans.

How many of these (if any) have you sampled previously?

I’ve sampled rums from all of these distilleries before, but these will be unique as every barrel is different.

Would anyone in their right mind mix with any of these, or are they strictly intended for sipping?

I wouldn’t recommend mixing any of them, though any of them would make a great rum old fashioned.

“6 Rums You’ll Probably Never Have the Opportunity to Taste Again” happens from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm July 21 in the Grand Ballroom South at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Go here to purchase tickets.

Next up in this series of pre-Tales dispatches is a brief Q &A with Wayne Curtis. Wayne is a freelance journalist who has written for many fine periodicals including The New York Times, Saveur, The Atlantic and Travel+Leisure. However, booze geeks likely know him best as the author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the World in Ten Cocktails.

This year Wayne will be heading up the presentation “Beyond Punch: Colonial American Drinks and How to Mix Them”, and he graciously let me pepper him with questions concerning this period in American drinking.

You wrote in And a Bottle of Rum that rum played a big part in the drinking scene during the early days of the US. What were some of the other things people were drinking at that time?

Mostly cider, lots of beer, and whiskey was starting to come in, but it remained hampered by transportation issues (no trains or canals from beyond the Appalachians until nearly the mid-19th century). Rum was cheap and easy to find in port cities since there was lots of trade between the 26 British colonies (of which 13 elected to break off and declare independence.)

Could you briefly describe the role alcohol played in the day-to-day life of the average person in colonial America? For example, was it common to consume alcohol with every meal? Was it mainly consumed recreationally and socially?

Beverage alcohol was medicine, provider of comfort, salve, healer of all ills including chilblains. You had some in the morning to start your day properly, then you had some more spirit when you took a lunch break, and there was no better way to cement the bonds of friendship and catch up on the news than having a slug of rum or cider at night at the tavern.

What is an example of a popular alcoholic beverage that could be found in a pub/tavern during this time period?

Punch, of course — taverns almost always had punch bowls and ladles and cups. But tavern owners were creative and mixed up what they had to create potions that would distinguish them from their competition. Shrubs were popular — this was a way of preserving berries or stone fruits into the winter by soaking them in vinegar. Pour out a little of that, add sugar, some rum, and you could turn a dark February evening into a taste of summer. Which was sort of a remarkable thing in an era before refrigeration and air-express shipping.

How much distilling was done at home vs. commercially?

Home distilling was far more common then than now — because if you lived on an isolated farm, you had to make most everything you needed. So small stovetop contraptions would provide a bit. And rural folks knew other tricks, like leaving a pail of hard cider out in the barn during the winter, and then scraping off and discarding the ice periodically, which would increase the proof and result in a sort of crude applejack. (Water freezes before alcohol.) In the cities, with the proliferation of taverns and distillers, there was less home-distillation. Remember that in New England alone, there were something like 160 commercial rum distilleries cranking out product on the eve of the American Revolution. You didn’t have to go far to find a tot of rum, especially in the seaboard cities.

Were the drinking habits of the wealthy markedly different from the poor?

Everybody drank, and heartily, but the rich drank better, of course. They could afford imported Madeira and port to mix in their punches. And they would drink rums from the West Indies, which most contemporary accounts suggest tasted far better than the rums made in New England.

What types of drinking vessels were the most commonly used (glass, metal, earthenware, etc.) and what drinks were traditionally served in them?

Glass was favored by the upper crust — elegant punch glasses and the like were more expensive to obtain, and when you had them you took good care of them. Otherwise, it was whatever you had on hand — be it pewter mugs or crude earthenware or more refined ceramic tankards, or sipping out of the ladle. You’d find a real mix of vessels around the colony, with the poorer imbibers obviously using the cheaper earthenware.

Were there any drink ingredients or preparations being used at that time that we would find surprising today?

Flip is most surprising — it was made by mixing up rum, beer, and a sweetener like molasses in a pitcher, then stirring it with a piece of iron that had been heated to red-hot in a fireplace. The mess would foam up and sputter, and the end product had a distinctive taste… strangely, a bit like Starbucks coffee, from all the grains in the beer being burned.

“Beyond Punch: Colonial American Drinks and How to Mix Them” happens from 10:00 to 11:30 am, July 21 in the Queen Anne Ballroom at the Hotel Monteleone. Go here to purchase tickets.

As promised earlier over at my usual online hangout, I’m posting a few pre-Tales items designed to prime the collective pumps of those headed for New Orleans this July. But even if you aren’t attending the boozapalooza known as Tales of the Cocktail,you still might want to stop here now and then in the weeks beforehand to soak up some random hooch-centric knowledge.

This salvo comes courtesy of Paul Clarke, whose name is familiar to cocktail enthusiasts of all stripes. In addition to writing about cocktails & spirits for Imbibe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times and SeriousEats.com, he is also considered the godfather of cocktail blogging, having documented his love of adult beverages at his site The Cocktail Chronicles since 2005.

At Tales of the Cocktail this year, Paul will be presenting the seminar “As American as Apple Brandy”, and he was kind enough to let me fling a handful of questions at him regarding this little-known but historically significant spirit.

Are apple brandy and applejack the same thing? I often see the terms used interchangeably.

Historically, applejack and apple brandy were pretty much the same thing. The term “applejack” was slang, a word usually hung on rougher, coarser versions of the spirit (especially in the early days, when techniques like freeze distillation were sometimes employed), and until very recently, brandy distillers typically bristled at the use of “applejack” to describe their product. The term mostly lost its sting after Prohibition, when there were still several brands around (this ended in the 1950s, when Laird’s became the only producer in the U.S.), and in the 1970s, Laird’s reformulated their applejack from a straight apple brandy into a blend with neutral spirits, with a little apple wine added to the blend.

Do you remember where you first encountered apple brandy?

When I first started exploring the classic-cocktail landscape, I came across references to the Jack Rose, one of the most basic and still engaging applejack cocktails in creation. I’d just assumed that applejack was extinct along with Old Tom gin and other once-common bar ingredients, but with a little searching I found applejack in a Seattle liquor store; today, many Jack Roses later, I still find American apple brandy one of the most interesting and engaging spirits in the bar.

How popular was apple brandy in the early days of the US?

Keep in mind that apple brandy is simply distilled cider, and there were stretches during the Colonial era and well into the 19th century when cider was the most widely consumed beverage in America. So, apple brandy was huge — it was easy to produce locally (which was especially helpful on the frontier, where shipments of rum — the other important spirit of the colonial era — could be relatively expensive and hard to find), and it predated the advent of Bourbon and possibly even the birth of American rye whiskey. Laird’s has been distilling apple brandy since 1698, and in the 1830s, there were around 400 distillers of applejack in New Jersey alone. That was bigtime booze for the era.

It’s my understanding that apple brandy was traditionally made in the northeastern US. Was/is it made in other parts of the country?

New Jersey is American apple brandy’s ancestral homeland, and Laird’s is still based there today (though since suburban sprawl long ago displaced the state’s orchards, their brandy is now distilled in Virginia), but today there’s apple brandy being made pretty much wherever apples are grown. Clear Creek Distillery in Oregon has been making apple brandy for years, and St. George Spirits and Germain Robin in California make exquisite apple brandies. There are also apple brandies made in Michigan, Indiana and Connecticut, and I hope that soon we’ll be able to purchase apple brandy made in my home state of Washington.

The apple brandies I’ve tasted seem to have a whiskey-like character. Are there any whiskey-based cocktails that work well when apple brandy is substituted?

There’s a reason applejack is sometimes referred to as “apple whiskey.” American apple brandy has the woody bite that you find in Bourbon & rye, along with a mellow richness that can really make the other ingredients in a cocktail come together. I’d suggest almost every whiskey-based cocktail would work well with apple brandy, and if you mix equal parts of the two? Damn. Case in point: the Star Cocktail, which is simply an apple-brandy Manhattan (make it with orange bitters and you’ve got a Marconi Wireless), and the Diamondback, which is rye whiskey, apple brandy and Chartreuse. Also, there’s the American Trilogy, a more contemporary drink which is rye whiskey, apple brandy and orange bitters. And apple brandy even mixes well with other spirits, such as in the Pink Lady, in which it stars with gin, lending a deeper, richer backbone to the drink.

What are some of the differences between American apple brandy and other related products like Calvados?

While there are similarities between Calvados and American apple brandy, the differences are big enough to think about them as distinct spirits. Calvados producers are limited to using certain types of apples (typically the tarter styles used for cider), but American producers can use any style of apple, and often use sweeter varieties more commonly thought of as table apples (an example is the apple brandy from Clear Creek Distillery in Oregon, which is made entirely from Golden Delicious apples). Laird’s, the largest producer, ages their brandy in used bourbon barrels, whereas Calvados producers use various styles of oak barrels, which results in a different finished product. American apple brandies are also usually bottled much younger than Calvados (though there are exceptions among some older American brandies), which results in a very different character in the glass. There are other differences, but this should give you an idea of how similar, yet different, these styles of apple brandy can be.

Has the renewed interest in cocktails over the past few years helped apple brandy become more commonplace? Is it possible to find it in bars these days?

The cocktail renaissance has helped almost all spirits (with the possible exception of vodka), and apple brandy has definitely benefited. Not only can you find applejack and Laird’s bonded apple brandy in many (if not most) craft-cocktail bars, but there’s been a slow but steady increase in the number of startup distillers trying their hand at apple brandy. The best years for American apple brandy may be before us.

“As American as Apple Brandy” happens from 1:00 to 2:30 pm, July 23 in the Grand Ballroom South at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Go here to purchase tickets.