8 Things I Learned At Tales of the Cocktail 2010

When I first attended in 2008, I was a wide-eyed rum enthusiast with no idea what to expect. I had never attended Tales before – in fact, other than Ed Hamilton via his Ministry of Rum, I didn’t know a single person that was attending. Five days and several hundred rummy beverages later, I had a bevvy of new friends to drink with all over the world.

This has been my third straight year attending Tales of the Cocktail. Every year presents me with new experiences, new faces and a lot of new information (and some cocktails, I’m pretty sure there were cocktails too).

The Science of Shaking Up Controversy

Matt Robold is an Orange County, California-based blogger with a passion for rum, an interest he indulges on his blog Rum Dood.
Does your shaking style really make a difference in the final temperature and dilution of your drink?
If you’re not a bartender, this question has probably never occurred to you.   If you are a bartender [...]

Preview: The Long Legacy of Cuban Rum

Matt Robold is an Orange County, California-based blogger with a passion for rum, an interest he indulges on his blog Rum Dood.
It wouldn’t be Tales of the Cocktail if there weren’t a session or two about rum.  There’s so much history to be read and so many stories to be told and so much variation [...]

Matt Robold is an Orange County, California-based blogger with a passion for rum, an interest he indulges on his blog Rum Dood.
Tales of the Cocktail may have officially started on July 16, but for several intrepid rum-lovers, the festivities got going on a little earlier.
On Tuesday, July 15, Ed Hamilton opened the 2008 Ministry of [...]

Live Blogging (kind of): Potions of the Caribbean

Matt Robold is an Orange County, California-based blogger with a passion for rum, an interest he indulges on his blog Rum Dood.
10:27am – Finally got my wireless working so I won’t be using my blazing fast cellphone for this.  I don’t think there were this many island shirts and straw hats at Jeff Berry’s tiki-themed [...]

Live Blogging: The Three Amigos

Matt Robold is an Orange County, California-based blogger with a passion for rum, an interest he indulges on his blog Rum Dood.
Yes, I’m completely stealing this format from Rick at KP.  He can sue me*.
2:39pm – We get started with Simon Ford remarking that it’s very different doing a seminar in the afternoon rather than [...]

Attack of the Parties

Matt Robold is an Orange County, California-based blogger with a passion for rum, an interest he indulges on his blog Rum Dood
As day one of Tales of the Cocktail drew to a close, the festivities fought back, refusing to go gently into that good night.  For Wednesday night the order of business was parties.
At 7pm [...]

Rum, Ron, & Rhum

This is the debut post from Matt Robold. Matt is an Orange County, California-based blogger with a passion for rum, an interest he indulges on his blog Rum Dood.
Tales of the Cocktail is rapidly approaching us, and it can’t come soon enough. This year will mark my first venture out to the show, and [...]