Contributors

Blogging Tales of the Cocktail: 2011 is a collaborative effort involving many of the world’s most widely read bloggers covering spirits, cocktails and the art of mixology. Meet our regular contributors:

Executive Editor

Darcy O’Neil (Art of Drink) is a bartender with a formal education in chemistry. His motive for becoming a bartender was part by chance and partially to fulfill his culinary desires. Darcy feels that in life, food and drink are too important to take short cuts, so he quickly became an advocate for making great cocktails. Darcy currently works as a bartender and spends his time writing about his mixology and bartending experiences on his website, Art of Drink and promoting his book on the history of soda fountains (Fix the Pumps).

Core Bloggers

Marleigh Riggins is the writer and publisher of SLOSHED! Begun in early 2005 as a way to keep track of her growing interest in cocktails and spirits while sharing those experiences with anyone who would listen — or read, as it were — the focus of SLOSHED! is on cocktails good, bad and indifferent, with a definite bias toward the classics and the occasional bar review thrown in for good measure. Marleigh’s cocktails have been featured on Los Angeles bar menus including Malo in Silverlake; she is a member of the Cocktails & Spirits Online Writers Group and can also be found posting on the Mixoloseum blog. When not writing or photographing for SLOSHED!, Marleigh works as a graphic designer and favors cold Belgian ales.

Camper English (Alcademics) is a freelance cocktails and spirits writer for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, 7×7 Magazine, and Tasting Panel Magazine, as well as the wonderful cocktail blog Alcademics.com.

Chuck Taggart (The Gumbo Pages) is a dedicated cocktailian whose work and explorations have been featured in The Joy of Mixology,Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, The San Francisco Chronicle and various other publications.  He’spleased as a bowl of Columbian Punch to see some of his original cocktails being served in bars from Seattle to New Orleans to Boston. Since 1994 he’s been the author and editor of the New Orleans food-, drink- and culture-related website The Gumbo Pages, which regularly features his musings on cocktails and spirits in the weblog Looka! He also worked as a public radio DJ and music programmer in Los Angeles for 20 years, and in 2004 was the compiler, producer and accompanying book co-author of Doctors, Professors, Kings and Queens: The Big Ol’ Box of New Orleans, a 4-CD collection of New Orleans and Louisiana music on Shout! Factory Records.

Craig Mrusek (Dr. Bamboo): Who is Dr. Bamboo? Some say he is a renegade scientist who renounced his original field of study to dedicate himself to the advancement of cocktail culture. Others claim he is a powerful shaman who practices the forbidden arts of a long-forgotten civilization. Still others maintain he is actually a traveler from a faraway world, sent to our planet as an ambassador of intergalactic fine living. Whatever the truth may be, one thing is certain: He makes a mean Martini.

When he’s not foraging for obscure ingredients and vintage barware, Dr. Bamboo writes and illustrates the cocktail column  ”Last Call” for Bachelor Pad Magazine as well as a monthly feature for online drinks resource BarNoneDrinks.com.   His original recipes have appeared in Beachbum Berry Remixed,Chilled magazine and promotional materials for Obsello absinthe and Kilo Kai rum.  He is on the board of the Cocktail & Spirits Online Writers Group and was profiled in Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails as one of “The 25 Most influential Online Cocktail Pioneers.”

Correspondents

Matthew B. Rowley (Rowley’s Whiskey Forge) is an advertising executive, former museum curator, and past board member of the Southern Foodways Alliance. He has traveled extensively in search of moonshiners, poitín-makers, and amateur & craft distillers to uncover local liquor and, when possible, promote the people who make it. He is a past presenter at Tales of the Cocktail and has talked on drinking and cocktail culture for universities, radio, and television. His recipes and essays have gotten ink from the University of North Carolina Press, Simon & Schuster, the Taunton Press, Lark Books, and others. Although he’s far too shy to mention it, his 2007 distilling history/practicum— Moonshine! Recipes * Tall Tales * Drinking Songs * Historical Stuff * Knee-Slappers *How to Make It * How to Drink It * Pleasin’ the Law * Recoverin’ the Next Day — has been called a modern classic among hobbyist distillers. Rowley lives in San Diego, California, where he maintains a 2,000-volume culinary library open to chefs, bartenders, historians, journalists, and students and is proprietor of Rowley’s Whiskey Forge, blog a devoted to the history and practice of distilling, mixology, and good eats.

Tiare Olsen (A Mountain of Crushed Ice) hails from Stockholm, Sweden and is a passionate cocktail and spirits geek with a special love for tropical and tiki drinks. You’ll usually find her mixing up a range of drinks, crushing ice, making garnishes, syrups, infusions and bitters and photographing all her experiments, which finds their way onto her blog “A Mountain of Crushed Ice.”

She is especially interested in cocktail garnishing and ice,and is a collector of fine demerara rums and a grower of tropical orchids. After leaving the restaurants work where she did cook for many years she is now working with sales within the field of fiber broadband networks to Real Estate owners – but her real passion is in the cocktail world.

A large portion of her free time goes to writing her blog and hanging out in the Mixoloseum bar chat room, occasionally bartending privately and sometimes doing tiki-drink and rum sessions. Other passions in life is cooking spicy food, good music, reading, painting, photography, travelling (her heart is in New Orleans) and visiting the nature (but not in the winter-this one like the sun and warm temps and goes into hibernation during the winter)

Her favorite cocktails are the Sazerac and a proper Trader Vic´s Mai Tai the way its supposed to be made and setting the true recipe of the Mai Tai straight whenever she can is a life – long  commitment.

She’s also a member of CSOWG, the Mixoloseum blog and the Ministry of Rum.

Steve Schul and Paul Zablocki (Cocktail Buzz) have been plying their love for cocktails, mixology, and food pairings on their Web site, Cocktail Buzz. They present videos that offer demonstrations of cocktail/appetizer pairings, recipes for meals to follow your cocktail, as well as a blog about cocktail bars and restaurants in NYC and other cities. They love to share cocktail info and recipes to those who want to have fun at home and celebrate the joys of imbibing, yet like an occasional night at the bar. So check out what they have to say at Cocktail Buzz and watch them create intoxicating delights.

Geoff Kleinman at Drink Spirits – With its roots in the rebirth of the classic cocktail scene and the explosion in American micro-distilleries, Drink Spirits steps in to cover the increasing number of options in the spirits category with a very real, unpretentious and frank look at spirits.

Natalie Bovis (The Liquid Muse): Fueled by cocktails and a passion for sharing them with visitors to TheLiquidMuse.com since 2006, Natalie Bovis teaches cocktail classes and mixes up fun at live events as well as TV / radio shows around the U.S.  Her two female-focused cocktail books Preggatinis™: Mixology for the Mom-to-Be and The Bubbly Bride™: Your Ultimate Wedding Cocktail Guide, are ranked among the Top Ten Cocktail Books of the year in 2008 and 2009, respectively, on about.com.  Natalie also hosts and produces Inspired Sips in conjunction with Small Screen Network, and brings back her Tales videocasts again in 2010.  She is honored to be a judge for Tales’ prestigious Spirited Awards and thrilled to participate in Tales of the Cocktail for the fourth year in a row. She will also, once again, contribute to the TalesBlog.  Join The Liquid Muse all year long via the The Liquid Museletter; TLM Cocktail Club on Facebook, and, of course, Twitter.

Meaghan Dorman (SpiritMeAway) is currently the head bartender of New York City’s Raines Law Room.  When she is not mixing cocktails, Meaghan contributes to several publications as a spirits journalist.  Formerly the spirits/leisure editor of King Magazine, she has also contributed to Penthouse, XXL and Vain magazines.  Meaghan began bartending in New Haven, CT while in college at Southern Connecticut State.  She moved to New York 6 years ago and has juggled bar gigs with stints in the music and media industries.  Meaghan is proud to be a founding member the New York City chapter of LUPEC, which plans to enhance the community of local women in the spirits/cocktail industry through charity work, education and events.

Marshall Fawley is the co-author of Scofflaw’s Den, an “online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulum.” The “Scofflaw’s Den” name not only reflects the term given to those who imbibed during the dark days of Prohibition, it is also in honor of Marshall’s ancestral roots of moonshine runners. A good ole Southern boy based out of Arlington, VA, Marshall co-authors Scofflaw’s Den with his good friend and college buddy, SeanMike Whipkey. Marshall covers original and classic cocktails, product reviews, home mixology, cigars and the Washington DC area’s growing cocktail scene. An attorney by day, Marshall spends his evenings soaking up cocktailian history from his collection of old bar guides, making homemade ingredients and photographing the results. A contributor to The Mixoloseum website and covered by the Washingtonian magazine, Marshall is proud to be a Virginia/Washington, DC voice in the world of cocktails. As a side hobby, Marshall has made it his mission to single-handedly resurrect the Cocktail de la Louisiane and popularize it throughout the Washington , DC area — next step the world!

Jonathan M. Forester (Drinking the World; DiaryofaDistiller.com) has worked at a microbrewery, as a hard cider maker, an artisanal cheese maker, rustic wood fired bread baker, studied at the French Culinary Institute and in culinary schools abroad, and is a food & beverage consultant. He has also been a psychologist, licensed wilderness guide, educator, and more. Forester recently spent several years living in mid-coast Maine where he consulted to local food businesses and restaurants. He was also a partner in a winery and started a craft brewery and artisanal distillery.

Now back home in NY State, he just started construction of Dutch Spirits; an artisanal distillery on a 350 acre farm, that was the site of a secret bootleg distillery during Prohibition, run by the infamous gangster, Dutch Schultz. The property is riddled with huge underground bunkers that held the illicit facility, and escape tunnels going between the bunkers and buildings on the farm. Here he will make premium bourbon and rye from grains grown on the farm, brandy, gin and genever, rum, liqueurs, bitters, and more. He is creating unique spirits, and re-creating lost ones from the 19^th century, especially for the Cocktail Revolution that is being celebrated at Tales of the Cocktail.

Kevin Gray (Cocktail Enthusiast) is a Dallas-based freelance writer and food and drink fanatic. Kevin started Cocktail Enthusiast in 2009 to give his appreciation of spirits and cocktails a healthier outlet for expression, and to justify his drinking habits to family and friends.

Kirsten Amann (LUPEC Boston) is a freelance writer, lifestyle publicist, and founding member of the Boston chapter of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. Her writing has appeared in DailyCandy, The Second Glass, The Weekly Dig,  and the Massachusetts Beverage Business Journal, among others.

Kirsten writes and manages editorial content for the LUPEC Boston blog and coauthors the LUPEC Boston column in The Weekly Dig and the Massachusetts Beverage Business Journal under the byline “Pink Lady”. She has been featured in The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, Stuff Boston, and on MSN.com, Boston.com, and How2Heroes.com among others. She is a graduate of the BAR Smarts one-day program, a condensed version of the rigorous Beverage Alcohol Resource 5-day course, and holds an Intermediate Certificate with Distinction from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. She is an avid blogger and is presently at work on her first book.

Abigail Deirdre Gullo (RyeGirl) first fell in bartending when she learned to make a Manhattan (sweet) for her beloved Grandfather. As unofficial Cocktail Ambassador to Ireland, she became well know for Classic Cocktail Salons in her Dublin apartment from 1999-2001. Abigail started her blog, RyeGirl, in 2005 with the intention of having a forum for her experiments in mixing and to honor her favorite spirit.  After leaving her teaching job last year (a profession that will drive any single gal to drink) she has devoted herself full time to the industry of fine spirits and cocktails. Abigail is proud to have been nominated as a charter member of LUPEC NY by her dear friend and fellow whiskey lover, LeNell Smothers.  RyeGirl’s original cocktails have been recognized in competitions from Square One Vodka, Chow.com, Skky Spirit Whiskey Masters, Bacardi, Havana Central, and Eleven Madison Park. You can currently visit her behind the stick at Bar Celona and Fort Defiance in Brooklyn, behind the mic at Live Band Karaoke, or behind her computer screen blogging at www.ryegirlnyc.blogspot.com.  You can also sample the fine spirits she represents at www.orionbev.com.

Michael Lazar (Stirred, Not Shaken), mad kitchen scientist cum bartender, is most recently responsible for testing and tasting all the cocktail recipes and homemade ingredients in the forthcoming book “Left Coast Libations.” Further excerpts from his secret diaries can be found on his blog “Stirred, Not Shaken” along with his own original cocktail recipes and frequent musings on exotic citrus and semi-toxic cordials. No longer satisfied to simply test and write about cocktails, Michael now makes and serves them regularly to willing guests at venues (underground or otherwise) throughout the San Francisco bay area. Photo: Jenn Farrington.

Wendy and Dayne Miller (LuggageTag) firmly believe that since genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, they need to stay busy quenching their inevitable thirst and will get to the inspiration in their own good time. Consummate barstool-warmers and cross-border liquor mules, they are fortunate to live in Seattle where they have easy access to many greats of the cocktailian world. Whenever possible, they spend their time searching out bars, restaurants and adventure in the near and far corners of the world, chronicling many of those experiences at LuggageTag. Between trips, Wendy spearheads the Seattle chapter of LUPEC.

Ted Munat (Le Mixeur) has carefully crafted a reputation for himself as one of the west coast cocktail scene’s foremost malingerers. He is a master at employing the power of the written word to create the illusion that he has made tangible contributions to the cocktail world, yet has coyly led most people to believe he’s merely a knave who likes to throw parties and spend entirely too much time in bars. At the same time, he seems to have lost his life-long race to avoid responsibility, and suddenly finds his cocktail events – Le Mixeur – growing in scope, size, and repute, and the blog of the same name actually being read by people to whom he is not directly related. What’s more, he is now a contributor to Drink Me Magazine and author of the soon-to-be-released book, Left Coast Libations. This has created mass confusion within the cocktail community and an identity crisis for Mr. Munat. Clearly, he is at a crossroads between fantasy and…well, a different fantasy. Pray for him.

Kara Newman (Spice & Ice) is the New York-based author of “Spice & Ice:  60 tongue-tingling cocktails” (Chronicle Books, 2009) and Spirits Reviewer for Wine Enthusiast magazine. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, Saveur, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Imbibe Magazine, among others. A former board member of the Culinary Historians of New York, Kara also leads tours about NY cocktail history for the 92nd St. Y Tribeca. For more, visit the Spice & Ice blog.

Matt Robold (Rum Dood) lives in Orange County, California, where he spends his time riding his bicycle, tinkering with various software projects, annoying bartenders in Orange and LA counties, exchanging notes and recipes with other cocktail and spirit bloggers, and – of course – drinking and writing about rum. In addition to RumDood.com, Matt contributes to the Mixoloseum blog. Rum captured Matt’s interest in 2005 when a trip to St. Lucia saw him return with a bottle of Admiral Rodney rum. After finishing a bottle of the best rum he had ever had, Matt began the long search for a replacement bottle, which lead him to Ed Hamilton’s Ministry of Rum. Unable to obtain a new bottle of Admiral Rodney right away, Matt started trying other rums and soon had a collection of 5 or 6 rums occupying his liquor cabinet. By 2009, that number had grown to more than 110 different rums as things moved from “hobby” to “obsession.”

Gabriel Szaszko (Cocktail Nerd) lives, drinks, and writes in Tulsa, OK, and found himself trapped in the inescapable allure of cocktails after littering his lawn, and checkbook register, with one too many champagne purchases. He endeavors to one day stop tinkering around with Aviation proportions and various obscure gins and work his way to the left of his bar where the darkly-colored spirits live. He is a founding member of the Cocktail & Spirits Online Writers Guild Group, blogs at Cocktail Nerd and writes for Oklahoma Magazine. He also has the finest family this side of your front door.

SeanMike Whipkey (Scofflaw’s Den): SeanMike’s parents used whiskey to help him with his teething.  It was only about 30 years later he realized he should’ve asked for some bitters to go with the bourbon. He drifted through college where the mark of a well-made drink was “you can’t taste the booze in it” or “the sours mix won’t give you heartburn”.  As the years went on, he stuck with beer and wine more and more until his friend Marshall started dragging him into the world of cocktails. Next thing he knew his bar was bigger than most restaurants, he was writing a blog about cocktails and occasionally cigars, and people seemed to think he knows what he’s talking about.  He’ll show them!

Hal Wolin (A Muddled Thought): As a boy who grew up on Long Island, Hal was stuck drinking Mudslides, Long Island Iced Teas and bad beer. This was until four years ago when Hal had his first real cocktail at the Flatiron Lounge while on a date. To this day, Hal doesn’t remember who the date was with, but remembers being in awe of the atmosphere and experience of cocktails. Over the years that followed, Hal slowly became obsessed with all things cocktails, moving from The Flatiron Lounge to PDT, Pegu Club and Death & Company until he started to become the guy leaving with recipes written on napkins. As time progressed he continued to geek out on all things cocktail-related and learned about the personalities and stories behind the bar.

In early 2009, Hal decided to take his obsession and love of cocktails a step further and began writing about cocktail lounges, reviewing spirits, and creating original cocktails on his blog, A Muddled Thought. In a short amount of time he has been writing, Hal has participated in several contests, worked several events and has become a very involved member of the NY Chapter of the USBG. Hal currently resides in New York City, prefers his cocktails to be a bit outside the box, and has been known to accept any cocktail challenge, including combining chartreuse and burnt marshmallows in a hotel room at 4am while attending Tales of the Cocktail.

In the year and a half since A Muddled Thought was established Hal Wolin has made a name for himself and his website, as a resource for all things spirited related whether that’s original recipes or spirit reviews and tasting notes. His recipes have been published in Trade Magazines such as Beverage Media and have being used in product brochures from companies including Compass Box, Makers Mark and Sydney Frank Importing.

Frederic Yarm (Cocktail Virgin) is a Boston-based cocktail writer for the Cocktail Virgin blog and a member of the Cocktail & Spirits Online Writers Group.  In the blog, Fred chronicles the creations of mixologists across Boston with a recipe-centric focus.  While not out on the town chatting with bartenders, he spends many evenings scanning old cocktail books for strange and forgotten recipes to make in his home bar and shares the winners with his audience.  In addition, his original cocktail recipes and bitters have appeared in print in Mutineer Magazine and on various websites, been served in bars across town, and won a few contests.  While not writing about cocktails, Fred spends his days as a biochemist measuring out and mixing less tasty liquids.

2008-09 Contributors Included:

Lauren Clark (DrinkBoston) is the publisher of drinkboston.com (bars, bartenders and imbibing in Beantown) and a freelance drinks journalist who has written for the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the New York Times, and Nightclub & Bar, among other publications. A former bartender and brewer, Lauren is also a founding member of the Boston chapter of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC).

Emma Davis (Yoga & Gimlets) – Now working with IPBrands/IP PR, Emma has 17 years of experience in the sales and marketing of wines and spirits including most recently 7 years launching and building the highly acclaimed Martin Miller’s Gin both in the UK and globally. Emma is an expert in distribution and marketing in the UK, US and other global markets. She has also worked on many famous wine brands including Torres, Guigal, Jean Luc Columbo as well as Janneau armagnac, Chartreuse and other spirits. Emma started her career in the in-house PR at Berry Bros and Rudd and will also be heading up with IPB, IP PR as collectively they are media savvy and have extensive contacts within the UK and globally. Emma is also chairman of LUPEC UK (www.lupec.org), the first international chapter of LUPEC outside the US. LUPEC UK will be a mentoring and advisory body for women in the industry. Emma also contributes to Drinksology and her own blog, yogagimlets.blogspot.com.

Erik Ellestad (Underhill Lounge) is a blog author and contributor to such sites as eGullet.org and DrinkBoy. His most famous misadventure is likely his ongoing effort to make all the cocktails, in order, from The Savoy Cocktail Book. The eGullet.org topic he started documenting this quixotic project, “Stomping Through the Savoy,” has proven strangely popular with cocktail enthusiasts and others in the food and beverage industry. He hopes, if all goes well, to be approximately half done by the time of Tales of the Cocktail 2008.

Brad Ellis (Bar Mix Master) has always loved putting things together to make something new and exciting. He is a Software Engineering Manager by day which is where he spends his time improving processes through the use of technology. Brad has a team of Software Engineers, a Project Manager, a Technical Writer and Support Programmers; his team builds complex projects to make something new and exciting for users. There is a great thrill that he gets when they deliver a product that exceeds the customer’s needs for a project. Cocktailing is the same for him. When Brad makes a great cocktail for a guest in his home and they love it, he gets that same thrill. His favorite drink is a Maker’s Mark Manhattan, straight up.

Stevi Deter (Two at the Most) is a cocktail ingenue living in Redmond, WA. Her passion for a great drink was sent into overdrive upon picking up a copy of David Wondrich’s Imbibe!, ostensibly as a gift, and then greedily keeping it for herself. She is a member of the Cocktail and Spirits Online Writers Group (CSWOG), and an associate member of the Washington State Bartenders Guild (WSBG). She can frequently be found haunting the bar at the Mixoloseum. On her blog she reviews liquors, books about liquor, and her process for inventing new drinks. She measures her growth as a home bartender by the quality of her Pisco Sour.

Seamus Harris (Bunnyhugs) hails from Auckland, New Zealand, and divides his time between there and Shanghai, China. In a vivid demonstration that travel can still broaden the mind, Seamus’ cocktail epiphany occurred after years of wandering the Far East in search of enlightenment. Meditating in a Japanese bar in Shanghai, Seamus was awakened to the realization that a perfect cocktail depends on the careful execution of numerous small details. Sensing his awakening, the barman, Mr. Jin, taught Seamus that ice was the neglected detail at the center of it all. Seamus has been a religious ice-Nazi ever since. Acquaintances deal with this by remembering urgent but forgotten appointments and politely taking their leave as soon as the subject of chilled H2O comes up. Seamus thus often finds himself abandoned to the company of a too-rapidly-diluting drink. For therapy, Seamus’ friends have suggested he write a cocktail blog, which can be found at www.bunnyhugs.org.

Robert Heugel: Drink Dogma is a digital document of an obsession with all elements of bartending. Specifically, spirits and cocktails have slowly started to consume his life. When not bartending, Robert is either reading books or online resources about cocktails, experimenting with recipes at home, or searching for a good drink in Houston. He loves old-school cocktails and ingredients; he’d put Chartreuse (green, of course) in his cereal if he could get away with it.

Misty Kalkofen (LUPEC-Boston) is one of Boston’s most highly regarded mixologists. Before joining the team at Drink, Barbara Lynch’s new cocktail bar in Fort Point, she spent two years as bar manager at Green Street in Cambridge, where her cocktail program emphasized classic drinks and proper technique. She is President and founder of the city’s first and only women’s classic cocktail society, LUPEC Boston (a local chapter of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktail), and a founding member of The Jack Rose Society. Kalkofen first stepped behind the bar while studying theology at Harvard Divinity School. She credits local music legend Brother Cleve with cementing her interest in classic cocktails the day he “presented her with a bottle of Old Overholt rye and dubbed her his protege.” Upon completing her degree in 1998 Kalkofen realized what excited her most about the Bible was the part where Jesus turns water into wine. Shortly thereafter Kalkofen joined the opening staff of the B-Side Lounge, the first bar in the city to focus on classic cocktails and vintage spirits at a time when Cosmopolitans and Sour Apple Martinis ruled. Kalkofen has spent the past ten years honing her craft and her palate, and has earned a reputation as one of Boston’s foremost authorities on cocktail history and culture. Kalkofen’s cocktail recipes have been excerpted in magazines and blogs across the country, including Wine & Spirits, Salon.com, Imbibe Magazine, and The Cocktail Chronicles. Kalkofen has received numerous accolades from local media, and has been featured in Boston Magazine, The Boston Globe, Stuff@Night, and The Improper Bostonian, among others. Kalkofen has been featured as a cocktail expert on regional radio shows and was a featured mixologist at James Beard’s Taste of America 2007, Boston Edition. Her writing on cocktails and women’s history can be found on the LUPEC Boston blog: lupecboston.com.

Sonja Kassebaum (Thinking of Drinking) has been an avid home bartender for many years, and loves exploring old and new cocktails, obscure ingredients and creative techniques.  She has expanded on that interest in the last few years by starting and running a boutique distillery with her husband, North Shore Distillery, and by teaching a range of cocktail classes across the Midwest.  In her spare time, Sonja is the President and Founder of Chicago’s chapter of the Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails, and a member of the United States Bartenders Guild, Illinois Chapter.

Kevin Kelpe (Save the Drinkers) is a bartender, restaurateur, and amateur writer living in Boise, Idaho. His work has spanned over 10 years and every aspect of the food and beverage business from bar and menu design to business management and consulting. Most recently, Kevin has been developing regionally focused bar and food menus in Boise, Idaho with Just Eat Local, a restaurant company focused on building sustainable food systems in urban areas. Kevin chronicles his travels and the happenings of his test-kitchen and bar, Red Feather Lounge, through mediocre camera phone photography and snarky musings on his blog at Save the Drinkers.

Lance J. Mayhew (My Life on the Rocks) had his first sip of distilled spirits at age 12, from a bottle of Vandermint stolen from his father’s liquor cabinet. In spite of his poor choice of initial spirit, Lance persevered, and ended up ending bar right after his 21st birthday at Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus Fun Bar, where he mastered every variation of the Long Island Iced Tea. From there, Lance worked in a variety of upscale restaurants and nightclubs, and quickly developed a passion for well-made classic cocktails. Lance’s particular interests are gins, whiskies, amaro and arak, and the history of American cocktails.

Robert Simonson (Off the Presses) is a Brooklyn-based wine and spirits journalist who has written for the New York Sun, Salon.com. Saveur.com, Wine Spectator, Culture and Travel and Time Out New York, as well as his own blog, Off the Presses.

Chris Stanley (An Exercise in Hospitality) is an occasional bartender, cook and cocktailian reprobate-at-large whose overlong ramblings & flowery language are normally limited to his blog, An Exercise in Hospitality. He is a founding member of the Cocktail and Spirits Online Writer’s Group, a member in good-standing of the USBG’s New York chapter and an active participant in the online cocktail community. Chris has worked in several areas of the food, beverage and hospitality industry and continues to devote a great deal of his (limited) free time to similar pursuits, all while completing a degree in Food Management at New Jersey’s Montclair State University. Widely-traveled, his eclectic professional and personal experiences have lent him an appreciation for ethnic cuisines (& their component flavors); elements of which often influence his cocktails in a variety of innovative ways. Furthermore, as an avid collector of vintage bar and cocktail guides, Chris is well-versed in classic cocktails – constantly experimenting with variations on the same or originating new libations with a solid foundation in those of the past. Examples of his cocktails have appeared in Imbibe magazine, won acclaim at the CSOWG’s Mixoloseum and graced the menu of the highly-rated Catherine Lombardi’s restaurant in New Brunswick, NJ.

Keith Waldbauer (Moving at the Speed of Life) is a bartender, consultant and writer from Seattle.  He currently tends bar at Barrio, a Mexican-themed restaurant with a well-regarded spirit and cocktail program.  He recently joined Kathy Casey Food Studios as a Consulting Associate Mixologist.  As a writer, he contributes to his own blog, Moving at the Speed of Life, as well as for Slashfood.com, part of the AOL Food Network.  Recently, he was nominated for a Rising Star Mixologist Award by StarChefs.com, and serves as Vice-President of theWashington State Bartenders Guild.

Designers & Technical Crew

Jeffrey Morgenthaler of Portland, Oregon has been writing about bartending and mixology for several years at his website, jeffreymorgenthaler.com. The website features original cocktail recipes, product reviews, and discussions of bartending technique. Jeffrey has been tending bar professionally since 1996 and is currently the bar manager at Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon. His recipes and wisdom have appeared in Wine Enthusiast, Playboy, Wired, and Imbibe magazines.

Jay Hepburn (Oh Gosh!) is a cocktail enthusiast and writer from London, England. You can read about his adventures in the world of cocktails at Oh Gosh!, where he compares recipes, discovers new and unusual spirits and seeks out the best places to get a decent drink. In addition to Oh Gosh! Jay also writes for Mixology and produces Oh Gosh! TV, an online video series showcasing the finest bars around the world and the people at the forefront cocktail and bar culture.

Blair Reynolds (Trader Tiki)

Blair Reynolds is a Portland, OR based Blogger and bartender. His site TraderTiki.com has been running for over two years, covering classic and modern tropical drinks, tiki bars, and rum. Blair was recently featured as an “Internet Pioneer” in Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails second edition. Blair also runs Tiki Nights at several bars in the Pacific Northwest, and recently launched a syrups company featuring exotic flavors for tropical mixology.

Rick Stutz is the publisher of Kaiser Penguin (www.kaiserpenguin.com), a cocktail blog featuring original recipes, homemade ingredients, classic cocktails, and tiki drinks. Host of the Mixoloseum’s Thursday Drink Night (bar.mixoloseum.com), he brings together bartenders, spirit writers, and cocktail enthusiasts from around the globe each week to create original cocktails and build on the knowledge and relationships in the cocktailian community.

His passion for photography and garnish fuel his work, which has been featured in Beachbum Berry Remixed, Imbibe! Magazine and at notable tippling establishments including Forbidden Island, in San Francisco, and Vessel, in Seattle. He currently survives in Pennsylvania, the Antarctica of the drinking world.

Editor Emeritus

Michael Dietsch is a cocktail and spirits writer, editor, and bartender-between-gigs. He pens a regular column on seasonal and local cocktails for Edible Rhody magazine. He’s written about all things Imbibia at adashofbitters.com, since 2006. When he’s not mixing drinks, he can be found cycling, smoking meats, or enjoying a fine cigar. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife, Jennifer Hess, and their three cats.

Editor Emeritus

Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles) is a contributing editor to Imbibe magazine; the spirits and cocktails columnist for Serious Eats; and has contributed articles and essays on spirits, cocktails and the culture of drinking to the New York Times’ Proof blog, the San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle magazine and other publications.  Since May 2005, Paul has documented his exploration of fine spirits and mixology on The Cocktail Chronicles, one of the first exclusively cocktail-related blogs on the Internet. Paul is also the founder and moderator of Mixology Monday, a monthly online cocktail party that has attracted scores of participants from around the globe. While he’s still not sure it’s a good thing that his drinking habits have attracted media attention, Paul has been profiled on Salon.com and in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and his blog has been declared an “Online Find” by the Boston Globe and a spotlighted “Pick” by Yahoo!. Paul has been quoted in articles on spirits and cocktails in publications including the New York Times, the Seattle Times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Baltimore Sun and Tiki Magazine.