Cocktail historian Jeff “Beachbum” Berry tackled this thorny topic with the help of Ian “Rum Ambassador” Burrell and Stephen Remsberg, renowned rum collector and expert, laying out the arguments made by all of the players and comparing the recipes that lay claim to the Mai Tai throne.

In the end, it seems that it comes down to Polynesian drink heavyweights Donn and Vic, both of whom penned recipes for A Mai Tai…but only Trader Vic created THE Mai Tai that so captured that hukilau spirit. And while it seems that it is possible that Vic borrowed liberally from Donn’s recipe for the Q.B. Cooler to create his Mai Tai, the far more probable explanation lies in Cuba at the La Florida Bar where Vic first studied bartending. Just compare these two recipes:

Trader Vic Mai Tai
In your shaker pour 1 ounce each fresh lime juice, Rhum Clément VSOP Martinique rum, and Appleton Estate Extra dark Jamaican rum; 1/2 ounce orange Curaçao; and 1/4 ounce each orgeat syrup and sugar syrup. Add at least 2 cups of crushed ice, then shake well for around 10 seconds. Pour unstrained into a double old-fashioned glass. Sink your spent lime shell in the drink, and garnish with a mint sprig.

La Florida Daiquiri #2
To a shaker add the juice of 1/2 a lime, a few dashes of Curaçao, 1 teaspoon each sugar and orange juice, and 2 ounces of Bacardi. Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Coincidence? Perhaps. But regardless of where Trader Vic found inspiration, it does not change the transcendent beauty of a well-made Mai Tai.

Those lucky people who attended Friday’s seminar about craft distillers were treated to tastings by nine of the small producers at Tales this year: Dancing Pines, Corsair, Death’s Door, Peach Street, Piedmont, Artesian, Tuthilltown, House Spirits and American Fruits. (All delicious, but the Chai Tea Liqueur from Dancing Pines stole this reporter’s heart.)

Matt Rowley, author of “Moonshine” and whiskeyforge.com, and Max Watman, author of “Chasing the White Dog,” led a discussion on the state of craft, AKA micro or artisan, producers, accompanied by nine of examples of the creative and interesting products on the market (or nearly on the market) today, including a carbonated (!) vodka and, for cocktail nerds, a true American peach brandy.

When those cocktails are made by rum aficionados/nerds/madmen Martin Cate (Smuggler’s Cove, San Francisco) and Wayne Curtis (author of “And a Bottle of Rum”), it doesn’t get much better. Here are some highlights of the cocktail program in pictures:

Martin Cate and Wayne Curtis prepping drinks

Isthmus Cooler–with Abuelo 7-Year

Rum Flight: Trigo Reserva Añeja (PR), Ron de Jeremy, Abuelo 7-Year, Zafra 21-Year (Panama)

Plantain Daiquiri–with Trigo Reserva Añeja

Hedgehog’s Delight–a punch made and served tableside with Ron de Jeremy

Made with a power lele stick:

Aguadulce–with Zafra 21-Year

And Ron Jeremy himself came to the party, enjoying the fabulous dinner and signing bottles:

Ed Hamilton and Jeff “Beachbum” Berry

The alternate Ed Hamilton pouring rum

Matt Lirette pouring mezcal

Eric Seed pouring aperitvos

Until you walk in on Wayne Curtis dressed like a Son of the American Revolution.

Wayne is a writer and historian of cocktails, and the author of the excellent book “And a Bottle of Rum.” As you might guess from that title Wayne knows quite a lot about rum, which was the spirit of colonial America–the perfect background for the history of early American drinking.

Sponsored by Cruzan Rum, attendees woke up to a glass of Pineapple Syllabub, a vinegar-rum-cider Stone Fence, a spruce beer-rum-Zirbenz Calibogus and a hot beer-and-rum flip.

Picking up where punch, the famous tipple of American taverns, leaves off, Wayne took the audience on a tour of the history, ingredients and process of making colonial favorites like syllabub, cider, cherry bounce, sangaree and the flip–including the red-hot cast iron poker used to mix it (fire!).

Fire is an excellent strategy to, as Wayne hoped, turn out a room full of people dying to know where to buy a tri-cornered hat. Time to visit the hat shop…

Led by Darcy O’Neil, author of “Fix the Pumps,” and Andrew Nicholls, of Amsterdam’s Vesper Bar, who gave attendees an overview of the history, production and application of housemade sodas in modern bar programs. The featured drink was the Zozia Fizz, a light and delicious egg drink based around Herbsaint-tinged acid phosphate syrup. Bottoms up!

My last trip to New Orleans was in 2009, and that week passed in a blurry whirl of amazing meals and awesome drinks. Hard to believe that you could spend an entire week eating pretty much nonstop, but that’s what I did. One of the meals I managed to shoehorn in was lunch at Iris, a lovely little bistro known for its excellent food and well-made cocktails. The drink above is a lovely Aperol spritzer with tarragon, orange and cucumber which I enjoyed before the adjoining gnocchi with bok choy, tomatoes and ricotta; both were delicious, and I won’t even mention the sinfully amazing dark chocolate torte that was served with mocha ice cream. (I know, I know—dessert with lunch? In my estimation, calories don’t exist when you’re in New Orleans.)

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. The full (and nom-worthy) menu will be:

First Course


Guanciale on Bruschetta

A lock of a girl’s hair brings you good luck (Todd Richman)
American Harvest Organic Spirit, Mystic Melon Syrup, Aperol

Second Course


Six Lettuces, Duck Prosciutto, Soft-Boiled Duck Egg, Fennel, Pecans

Laying a broom across the doorway keeps a witch out at night (Spencer Warren)
Gekkeikan Junmai sake, Gekkeikan Kobai plum wine, lemon juice, Bärenjäger, R.W. Knudsen’s black currant juice, basil syrup

Third Course


Diver Scallops & Wild Boar Bacon with Edamame Hummus

The Gypsy Fortune (Mark Stoddard)
Michael Collins 10-year single malt, aquavit, verjus blanc, Cocchi Americano, “Magic Pearls”; served on a sphere of ice in a rocks glass

Dessert


Chocolate Terrine, Goat Cheese Quenelles, Fresh Blueberries

The Magic of Sidney Frank takes place at Iris, 321 N. Peters Street, New Orleans, on Thursday, July 21 from 8–10:30 pm. Tickets are $100 per person. To reserve your place at this enchanting event, call (504) 299-3944.

Angus Winchester is something of a Tales institution. A founding member of one of the first global bar consulting agencies, Angus is a bartender and Global Ambassador for Tanqueray. His comments on the spirits industry have been in The New York Times, The London Independent, and Toronto Star, and he acts as an “Ambassador at Large” for the Museum of the American Cocktail as well as Chanticleer. Angus has been a judge and presenter at Tales of the Cocktail in 2008–10 and has presented at bar shows around the globe from Copenhagen to Sydney.

This year, Angus has turned his attention to the history of cocktail glassware. When he began researching he was discouraged by the dearth of information about these vessels crucial to the practice of bartending. He was thus inspired to find the sources himself, and will be sharing the results at his seminar at Tales.

Tales Blog: What prompted you to develop a seminar on cocktail glassware?
Angus: I was asked to write an article [for a Frenchwire magazine] on glassware and was shocked and dismayed by how little good info there was currently available.

Tales Blog: Who else is going to be on your panel?
Angus: No one—just me for this one.
[Ed. note: Anyone who has heard Angus speak before will tell you that he’s more than enough on his own.]

Tales Blog: What do you hope attendees in your seminar will come away with?
Angus: A history of glassware and also insight into how we have lost many great glasses, plus some anecdotes to use when using glasses to create a richer customer experience.

Tales Blog: Which cocktails will be featured in your seminar?
Angus: Cocktails that have a specific or named glass.

Tales Blog: What is your favorite part of Tales of the Cocktail?
Angus: The high level of information and the passion of the presenters.

Purchase your Tales passes to participate in “A History of Cocktail Glassware” on Thursday, July 21 from 12:30–2 PM in the La Nouvelle Orleans Ballroom of the Hotel Monteleone, 214 Royal Street, New Orleans.

Hotel Monteleone main entrance

One of the star attractions at Tales of the Cocktail every year isn’t a TV personality or even a bartender, but the city of New Orleans itself. Participants (myself included) are continually charmed, awed, dazzled and wooed by the Big Easy. I could fill this page with florid, occasionally feeble metaphors about all the wonderful things about NOLA, but it is perhaps easiest to see how many people have been drawn to its strange mix of elegance and excess through the narrower lens of one of its many old, seasoned institutions. Philip Greene, Treasurer and Legal Counsel to the Museum of the American Cocktail, has one such location on the brain this year: ground zero of Tales madness, the Hotel Monteleone.

This year the Monty (as it is affectionately known) is celebrating its 125th anniversary and Tales of the Cocktail attendees can immerse themselves in this New Orleans landmark, from the famous names that have called the Monteleone home (Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Eudora Welty, Louis Prima) to the cocktails of its famed Carousel Bar.

Tales Blog: What prompted you to develop a seminar about the Hotel Monteleone?
Philip: My seminar partner, New Orleans bartending legend Chris McMillian, and I are New Orleans history buffs, and we felt it natural to do the history of the Hotel Monteleone this year for a number of reasons. One, the grand old hotel is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. Also, Chris and I have long been fascinated with the great old hotels of New Orleans and the role they’ve played in New Orleans society, as well as, nationally, the way NOLA served as a winter holiday destination from the turn of the century forward. Last year we covered the great cocktail tradition of the Grunewald/Roosevelt/Fairmont/Roosevelt, and this year wanted to focus on the Monteleone. We hope to someday cover other great NOLA classics, such as the old St. Charles, the St. Louis, and others.

Tales Blog: What do you hope attendees in your seminar will come away with?
Philip: We hope they come away with a solid understanding of the great role that the Monteleone, other NOLA hotels, and NOLA in general have played in the history of hospitality and civilized drinking in the USA.

Tales Blog: Which cocktails will be featured in your seminar?
Philip: We’re doing two Monteleone originals, the Goody and the Vieux Carré, and also the classic dry martini, which was a favorite of two of the hotel’s prominent literary guests, Truman Capote and Ernest Hemingway.

Tales Blog: What is your favorite part of Tales of the Cocktail?
Philip: So many reasons. One, I love New Orleans, went to law school at Loyola, got engaged at Napoleon House, and my wife and I come back as often as we can. But I also love how Tales brings together people with a shared passion, if it’s for history, making good food and drinks, whatever. 

Purchase your Tales passes to participate in “Hotel Monteleone: 125 Years of History” on Saturday, July 23 from 12:30–2 PM in the Queen Anne Ballroom of the Hotel Monteleone, 214 Royal Street, New Orleans.

An excerpt from the San Francisco Chronicle

Print, despite much trumpeting to the contrary, isn’t dead yet. That is especially true in the area of food and cocktails, where there has been an explosion of interest in recent years, particularly in online writing for newspapers, magazines and blogs. Paul Clarke, spirits journalist and blogging maestro of The Cocktail Chronicles, is certainly the man to moderate a discussion on the topic.

A contributing editor at Imbibe magazine, Paul has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, Wine & Spirits, Entrepreneur and Edible Seattle, contributed to the New York Times’ Proof blog and Serious Eats, and was just named one of Imbibe magazine’s “People Who Have Changed How We Drink.” Some days, it feels like he’s showing off. For this seminar, Paul has rounded up some of the best-known cocktail and spirits writers working today with an eye toward discussing the spirits industry from the viewpoint of its professional journalists.

Tales Blog: What prompted you to develop a seminar about cocktail & spirits writers?
Paul: I make my living by writing about booze. I spend my days reading, talking and thinking about drinks (and not a few evenings consuming them), and over the years I’ve really come to appreciate the extraordinary knowledge and skills of my predecessors and colleagues. I thought it’d be a lot of fun to spend time at Tales talking about some of my favorite writing about cocktails and spirits, in the company of a couple of gentlemen who share my interest as well as my occupation, and to hopefully provide some insight to other people in the drinks industry as to how we do our jobs, and how we can best work together.

Tales Blog: Who else is going to be on your panel?
Paul: Part of the appeal in putting this session together is that I’ll have the opportunity to share a dais with two of my all-time favorite drinks writers and Tales of the Cocktail presenters: David Wondrich and Wayne Curtis. I’ve known these guys for years, but this is my first time presenting with either of them at Tales, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Tales Blog: What do you hope attendees in your seminar will come away with?
Paul: You mean aside from a slight buzz? While we’re going to spend time talking about some of our favorite writing on drinks—by people who’ve inspired us and provided amusement and insight, such as Kingsley Amis, Herbert Asbury and of course, Charles H. Baker, Jr.—we want to cover the contemporary world of drinks journalism and provide participants with some practical information, as well. We’ll talk about how we do our jobs and how PR professionals, bar owners and other people in the drinks industry can best engage with drinks journalists and provide us with information we can actually use; and we’ll also look at how online media is changing the dynamic, and talk about how bloggers and aspiring journalists can more effectively cover the booze beat.

Tales Blog: Which cocktails will be featured in your seminar?
Paul: Drinking on Deadline is sponsored by Pisco Porton, a new Mosto Verde pisco from Peru. For drinks, we’re serving a classic Pisco Punch, which has a lengthy pedigree in print; and a Pisco Apricot Tropical, from Charles H. Baker’s “The South American Gentleman’s Companion” (though since Baker’s recipes can be kinda meh, we’re using the improved formulation developed by Erik Adkins, served at Slanted Door and Heaven’s Dog in San Francisco and which Mr. Adkins has very kindly shared with us).

Tales Blog: What is your favorite part of Tales of the Cocktail?
Paul: Tales of the Cocktail gives me the opportunity to spend one week every summer with some of my favorite people in one of my favorite cities. Whether I’m talking about the history of aperitifs, learning some deep background on mezcal, or just hanging out and drinking beer or Sazeracs in a bar somewhere around town, Tales of the Cocktail (and its host city of New Orleans) lets me indulge the cocktail geek side of my personality while offering pretty much any kind of fun and amusement I could wish for, all in the company of good friends.

Purchase your Tales passes to participate in “Drinking on Deadline” on Saturday, July 23 from 3:30–5 PM in the Grand Ballroom North at The Royal Sonesta Hotel, 300 Bourbon Street, New Orleans.