The last session of Tales for me was Plate & Glass, featuring hometown heroes Peter Smith and Gina Chersevani of PS7 restaurant.  My (oh my god I’m so hungry now) write-up is over on the Den.

Like Michael Lazar, I was at the Bitters & Amaros session – but my notes got destroyed in a conniption fit by my netbook, so my gloriously mis-remembered (possibly) post is here on Scofflaw’s Den!

Last year I only made it to one session, really – and so I’ve already matched it!  Angus Winchester and Jacob Briars deliver an entertaining seminar about bringing the fun back into drinks and I basically live blogged it over at Scofflaw’s Den.

Putting the fun back into boozing since 1947, SeanMike Whipkey is looking forward to the Bartending Fun-Da-Mentals seminar at Tales this year. He’ll tell you all about if y0u’ll just click through to his site.

1.  I can sleep in more than I could at drink.write.

2.  The best bar I know is free – but I won’t tell you where it is.  And it’s been getting bigger and better all week.

3.  I’ve missed a few sessions, but each time, it’s been for a good reason.

4.  It’s a hospitality industry with personal focus.  If you’re not friendly, if you don’t know how to interact with people, this is not the event for you.

I’m having a great time at Tales so far this year.  It can be a bit disconcerting – I had no idea where the Riverview room was at first, for instance – but at the same time, it’s absolutely crazy and fun with how many great bartenders show up at what seem to be random events (like at the Diageo Happy Hour early tonight, where people like Misty from Boston LUPEC, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Paul Clarke, Junior Merino, and others all were behind the stick) and hanging out with a lot of cocktail-loving folks (like us here at the Mixo House).

I feel a bit guilty mostly in the “I should be doing more” – but I was lucky enough to do things like have lunch with Tom Bulleitt today at Antoine’s and then later I hung out at the Carousel Bar and saw them again.  I got to have Sazeracs with Ted Haigh and to say hi to people like Phil Duff, Eric Seed, and Jamie Boudreau over the course of just today (and to have a Mr. Morgenthaler keep giving me drinks).

Tales is a bizarre, fun event so far.  I can’t wait to see what else is in store for tomorrow.

Now, for me, the biggest way I got ready for Tales was to start an on-going series over on my home blog the Scofflaw’s Den.  I managed to do 25 in a row, one (not counting variants) a night, until a couple of nights ago when I missed two days.  For the last day – today – I posted one final drink.

Not all of the drinks I made were great, or even intended to be drinkable.  Clearly there’s nothing to drink in Jamie Boudreau’s drink, the Boudreau Boudreau, and while drinkable, ones like the ones I made for John the Bastard (named the same thing) or for Mike Manning (the Mmm) are at best “okay” though more intended to be fun.

Others, though, came out quite well, sometimes through work (such as The Derek, named after local mixologist guru Derek Brown) or through luck (the swimming pool themed Morgenthaler).

I also realized, too late, that there were people I still missed – such as Robert Hess, Greg Boehm, and so many others.

If you’re around this week and tried your drink I’d love to know what you think.  If I didn’t make one for you and you think it’d be fun, tell me!  Or if you’re mad about what I made, well, you can tell me too, but I might be too intoxicated overwhelmed with Tales fun to take proper note!

And all of you, even those of you I haven’t met yet, I can’t wait to meet!  Only 3 more hours until I’m down there…

What the heck is going on?!

I don’t mean that in the rhetorical sense, really.  A year ago was the first time I got the barrage of questions “Oh, are you going to Tales?” and I had to say, “No, I’m not.”  I was already committed to E3 for a site that I used to write for regularly and my co-author, Marshall, couldn’t make it.

So for over 365 days I’ve planned, plotted, and schemed about going to Tales.  As time got closer, and I spent more time in the CSOWG, I’ve gotten more and more excited about meeting all the people that I’ve met online, re-meeting people I’ve met briefly, and best of all, remembering meeting people I met at Repeal Day here in DC in December (cough cough Morgenthaler cough).

I consider myself rather constantly confused.  This has been a busy year for me, which is no excuse, but I realized only as this week dawned how close Tales is – right after my birthday!  I fly out in less than a week!  WHAT TO DO WHAT TO DO!

Well, I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do, and it’s not  just pull my hair out and fret (anymore).

1.  Read up on all the stuff to do at Tales.

Seriously – like all the kids these days say “OMG!”  (Do they still say that?)  Not only are there all the sessions, and dinners, and tastings, but there’s all the people to meet, and there’s New Orleans in general!  I haven’t been there in nigh upon 7 or 8 years.  I’m excited to get back, I’m excited to be in the company of cool people with similar tastes who can show me where the best foods and drinks are, and I’m excited in general.  I’m going to be printing out schedules, I’m going to print out Chuck’s guide as to where to eat, and I’m going to print out everything I can possibly think of to find things such as precious fluids (hydration is next to godliness if you don’t want to die of hangover-related maladies).

2.  I’m going to prepare for my packing.

I’ve got  disadvantage over most of y’all – I’ve got to fly up to Pittsburgh, PA, way too early Saturday morning to go to a wedding for a family member.  (That is a good thing.  Other than the ‘7:40 AM flight’ part.)  However, already I prepped by buying some materials to have a friend pack-mule down there by car, and I’ll be spending the rest of the week and the weekend making sure I have what’s needed.  I’ve already realized I’ll be low on business cards, which is my own fault – but I also refuse to worry about it at this point (see below).

3.  I’m going to fill my cell phone with contact numbers.

And bring a back-up.  And bring my laptop, though it be heavy and annoying and hot.  And bring other stuff that might help.

4.  I’m going to remember the lessons I’ve learned over years of cons such as DragonCon, Origins, and E3.

A short cab ride can save pain and discomfort out of proportion of the cost.  Eat, and eat well.  Drink lots of water.  Don’t take anything TOO seriously.  Don’t try to do everything.  Pack a bathing suit and if you get overwhelmed, go to the pool.  Or take a nap.  Skipping one thing and taking a nap can often mean the difference between having a great time and ending up miserable and missing other things due to exhaustion.

5.  I’m going to have fun.

Heck yeah!  It’s not worth worrying.  This is, for me, my big vacation of the year, so I refuse to let it be work like some cons have ended up being.

I’ve been building up to Tales by coming up with drinks named after various people who will be there.  I’m up to 23 right now, and I’ve got three people I definitely feel like I must do before this weekend.  I don’t know if I can hit a full 28 (i.e. four weeks egads!)  In the next day or so I’ll post up a few of my favorites on here.  Some of them are intended to be jokes, some were intended and ended up good, some were intended to be good, but if I see even one person ordering a drink named after themself or someone else I’ll be the happiest guy at Tales!

See you in a few short days!