For our eighth anniversary, we are punching things up with our annual cocktail competition. If you think your skills are up to the challenge, we would like you to create a Planter’s Punch that we can use as our official cocktail at this year’s event.

Almost every famous Tiki drink is based on the Planter’s Punch. The Zombie is a turbo- charged Planter’s, while the Mai Tai simply adds Curacao and Orgeat to the classic Planter’s formula of rum, lime, and sugar. For the 2010 Tales of the Cocktail official cocktail competition, we invite you to create an original Tiki drink using the Planter’s Punch formula as your template.

[Full information, including a complete list of rules and sponsors, may be found here.]

January 21, 2009
12:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Hotel Monteleone Front Steps

It’s about time to get this moving again. We’ll be making some announcements soon about changes to the editorship and format of this blog. Some things didn’t run as smoothly as we’d have liked in the fast, fast pace of last year’s Tales, and we have some plans in place to address some of the problems. So stay tuned, please.

Meanwhile, the main Tales 2010 site is slowly starting to go live. If you check over there now, you’ll see links to room specials at the partner hotels and, honestly, it’s not too early to book your accommodations. Discounted rooms start as low as $99 a night, so check it out! And keep an eye on the main site. Announcements are pending about seminars, speakers, and other Tales 2010 events. It’s looking like another great Tales, everyone! Hope to see you there.

If you missed one of Philip Duff’s talks at Tales of the Cocktail or want a reminder of what you heard at one, note that he’s put his slides up online at: http://www.slideshare.net/philipduff

His talks were:

• Take a right at Albuquerque
• Liquid Nudging
• Low Country Libations
• The Fine Art of Banging Out Drinks

Jacob Briars at the Molecular DNA of Classic Cocktails seminar

One of my favorite talks at Tales of the Cocktail 2009 was The Molecular DNA of Classic Cocktails, hosted by Jacob Briars with Sebastian Reaburn. The talk centered around the idea that molecular mixology is not a new concept at all; we just didn’t use the same terms to describe it.

In fact, Briars started by mentioning the “Futurist Manifesto on Food” from 1909, in which an Italian writer said that the knife and fork should be banished, and that there should be courses in meals that are not to eat, just to look at and smell. I guess he had Ferran Adria beat by 100 years.  Cocktails, too, took on new forms long before we called them “molecular.” The Ramos Gin Fizz changes the texture and shape of the liquid into foam. The Blue Blazer Briars called “ersatz distillation” as it burns off some of the flavor of the whisky. The Clover Club and other egg white drinks not only make a nice foamy texture on drinks, the air bubbles that foam on the surface trap air and aromas so we can experience them more intently when we sip from the glass.

The discussion then turned to the Bloody Mary, a drink that has all the different taste sensations: sweet (tomato), salt (salt), sour (citrus), bitter (olive brine), umami (tomato, Worcestershire), and the possibly newly-identified taste category of smoke.

Next they discussed the mental palate. A drink served by a surly bartender in an overcrowded bar will probably not taste as good as one served in a more pleasant environment. They expanded this concept  to describe other aspects of the “cognitive palate,” including emotion, expectation, attention, memory, vision, and sound. All of these things we experience before we take a sip of the drink yet do influence our perception of its flavor.

Finally, we got down to some science. In the UK, the test drink that people use to judge the quality of the bar is the Old-Fashioned. At better bars they’ll take several minutes to slowly add the sugar and bitters, then repeated rounds of bourbon and ice with a slow stir. To find out why the drink tastes better than using the same ingredients splashed in the glass with a fast stir, they used an electric stirrer and measured the temperature and dilution of the drink. It turns out this doesn’t change anything about the temperature of the drink, but they theorize what is different between the two is that the gentler, slower method releases the volatile flavors from the alcohol, but they land in the liquid of the drink instead of in the air. Thus the slow-stirred Old-Fashioned is a more flavorful drink.

Their conclusion is that “molecular is just a way of thinking” about drinks, rather than a specific set of techniques. And that gave me a lot to think about.

This is part two of our trip to New Orleans to take part in Tales of the Cocktail 2009. Here are some photos that chronicle our last days in the French Quarter and beyond the city limits. [Click on each to enlarge.]

Saturday, July 11, 2009

After a filling and supremely satisfying dinner at Cochon the night before (If you love everything porcine, run to Cochon. We tried the pig ears and had to stop eating them for fear we’d have no room left for our main dishes.), we bid good night to Barbara, Jon, and JoAnn, and told them we would meet them in the late morning for a streetcar ride to Commander’s Palace, an old, lovely restaurant in the Garden District. Getting to the restaurant was easy, but with a Heat Index at 105ºF, the Northerners in the group would be fading fast and needed sustenance of a New Orleans nature. The interior of Commander’s Palace boasts some delightful details, such as embroidered Toile wallpaper in the foyer, and birds perched on tree limbs on the hand-painted, patterned, walls. As soon as we five sat at our well-appointed table, no sooner did we have Bloody Marys, Milk Punch, and Champagne in our eager grips. We were fêted with smiles, salads, and succulent appetizers; traditional Southern, and particularly Creole, fare; and a Dixie–Jazz Trio that kept Barbara and JoAnn wiggling and shimmying in their seats (we all wiggled, actually). We can’t believe we all ate dessert after such a rich and luscious dish of Pecan Roasted Gulf Fish (a sauté of summer corn, grilled asparagus, mushrooms, and local legumes with cracked crab and champagne butter), but we managed to do just that, and with some cognac and another round to boot.

Getting to Commander’s Palace via public transportation. Steve enjoys a spicy Bloody Mary. Serenading the Table. The Pecan Roasted Gulf Fish. Is too much music a bad thing?—not when it’s this fun! Cousin JoAnn strikes a dashing pose in Steve’s hat.

So we decided to walk off brunch a little, waddling down the block to where some of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was filmed. After deciding how we would redesign the gardens and veranda, we walked around the block, back to Commander’s Palace. Our goal: Lafayette Cemetery across the street. As we entered the hallowed ground, we split up into two groups and ambled aimlessly from row to row of family tombs. Alas, we could not stay for the heat was too much, and we feared that we would become the next tenants of this gloomy, sea of the forgotten.

The Benjamin Button House. Lafayette Cemetery gets a dose of nosy Brooklynites. An Angel watches over the departed.

That night, we decided to dine somewhere new, then see the good people at the Mixoloseum House before saying good-bye to Tales of the Cocktail 2009. If you’ve never been to the French Quarter on a Saturday Night, it can be trying. Let’s just say that racism and homophobia are alive and well, and sadly are being kept alive by the young. Sad, indeed.

But we digress. Our goal was to find a decent dinner: simple food served with soul-stirring cocktails. And the place we found exceeded our expectations. We had dined at Restaurant August, the exquisite John Besh mecca, the other night; why not try another of his kitchens. Lüke proved to please on so many levels: the Manhattan that Steve sipped, the Absinthe Suisse for mint-loving Paul. And cheeseburgers. The damned thing was so big (we sat right next to the kitchen, so were able to see the men and women searing steaks and patties behind glass), we decided to split it. But the nice folks at Lüke threw in an extra order of their crisp, hot fries just the same. After that and a Omega-3 rich salad, all we could do was get back to the hotel and call it a night.

Absinthe Suisse
(from Lüke Restaurant, New Orleans)

2 oz. Pernod Absinthe
1 oz. white crème de menthe
1/4 oz. orange flower water
1 egg white
1 oz. cream

As with all egg drinks, shake for about a minute, vigorously, without ice. The add ice, and shake vigorously again for another minute. Strain into a chilled glass.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Robert Hess loves the Old Fashioned.

Gosh, it was hard getting up Sunday morning. We were bone tired and a little frustrated by the lack of decent Wifi running through the ethosphere in the Monteleone. But we had to get our tired old asses into some seats in the ballroom at the Hyatt where Robert Hess, cocktail author and proponent of a perfect Old Fashioned, would be giving a talk on the history of just that drink. The Old Fashioned is one of our favorites. Simple, with a little sweetness and ice mitigating the sting of your favorite rye or bourbon (or Canadian whisky, for that matter, as he would later point out). By now we all know that a “Cock tail, then is stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters,” from the first known printed definition in the “The Balance and Columbian Repository, Tuesday, May 13th, 1806.” Robert Hess, after starting his seminar with this tidbit, then expounded on the murky history of one of the world’s greatest concoctions, focusing on the “right” way to make one.

Old Fashioned
(adapted by Robert Hess)

Add to a glass:
1/2 oz. simple syrup (originally, Robert used 1 sugar cube muddled in 1 tsp. water)
dash Angostura Bitters

Half fill

glass with ice and stir. Express oils of one large piece orange peel into glass. Add peel to glass.

Add:

2 oz. bourbon whiskey
Top with ice. Stir. Garnish with maraschino cherry.

And by maraschino cherry, Robert does not mean the radioactive red ones we find in fruitcakes, but marasche cherries, such as those delightful Luxardo ones we keep telling people to get if they don’t want to make their own. (P.S. You don’t have to refrigerate them. If you do, the cherry syrup with congeal.)

One of the most important things to remember is to make sure you include a straw in the drink and that you have made the drink as quickly and efficiently as possible. The customer can stir his or her drink to dilute it more if the first sip is too strong. It’s a natural reaction, and if a stirrer isn’t present, well, a finger just won’t do.

The Old Fashioned loves Robert Hess.

Robert is a proponent of understanding the foundation of the drink you are serving. When he began his autodidactic immersion into the world of cocktailiana, he would make the same drink over and over, every night, for one week until he understood its principles from every angle. His quest for the perfect Old Fashioned has taught him if you understand the foundations of the cocktail, then you can add your own precisions, or personal touches, to either riff on the classic, or perhaps come up with a new creation.

We ran into our friend Danny Ronen, who delighted the audience the other day at the seminar “Responsible Beverage Program Consulting,” and decided to get a traditional New Orleans lunch of gumbo, Catfish Po-boys, and Creole Spinach Salad with fried oysters at Deanie’s. After cursing the heat and downing some soft drinks, we left the restaurant and said or good-byes, looking forward to our last night in New Orleans and a quiet evening after, what would turn out to be, a full two hours of packing up the unworn clothes and the generous swag. We vowed this year only to take that which we thought we could really use (or something novel), but the minute Steve walked through the parted velvet curtains to the Speakeasy Swag Room, his shopping gene went into overdrive and his hands couldn’t stop tossing little bottles, and chocolate olives, and fans, and measuring cups, and muddlers, and whatever else was in there, into the three tote bags he had scored. Well, packing proved a little tiring, so we walked slowly to the Central Business District where the nice staff at Tommy’s New Orleans were just fine about making us dinner ten minutes before the kitchen closed. We opted for a new dish on the menu, the tenderly paneed veal with capers and crab meat, in a light creamy sauce. Perfection. We finished our evening sipping whiskey by the Monteleone rooftop pool, reflecting on the old and new friends we made, and looking forward to our drive out to Madewood Plantation the next day.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Staying in one city, especially one neighborhood, for a week can be dizzyingly claustrophobic. Se we called Enterprise (the best car rental place, hands down) and rented a gloriously air-conditioned Dodge Charger, and headed up the Mississippi to Madewood Plantation in Napoleonville. But before we got there, we drove slowly past refinery after refinery, searching desperately for quaintness. We stopped in Lutcher for a simple meal at Aunt Ellie’s, but not until we had caught glimpse after glimpse of poverty in the tiny towns bookended by some nicer homes, sometimes within a tenth of a mile from each other. This was our first road trip outside New Orleans, and we were fascinated like kids on their first day of kindergarten. We had so much to learn about the lives of Louisianans.

Poverty in Kenner. Stopping by Aunt Ellie’s in Lutcher for a quick bite.

And learn we did once we pulled into the long rhombus of a driveway that led to Madewood Plantation. Our overnight stay in the Master Bedroom included a wine and cheese reception in one of the parlors (Paul had the gall to ask for bourbon, and our lovely hostess, Christine, ran off and got us some generous tumblers full of one our favorite spirits), a dinner in the gloriously appointed dining room, and breakfast and a house tour for the morning. We shared the house with the Briggs family from outside Richmond, Virginia, and after exchanging stories at supper and after-dinner coffees, we parted for the evening. While all the Briggses were tucked in their beds, we had full run of Madewood and proceeded to take photos in every room of the house. We knew we would learn about the history and furnishings tomorrow, so we delighted in just taking some fun and experimental shots, using the light available to us at that hour in the evening.

Locusts, sagos, and that gorgeousness, all at Madewood Plantation.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Well, we were late for dinner the night before, and also ran into breakfast full of apologies (breakfast was at 8:30, and sometimes that proves a little too early for weary travelers). The breakfast revelation was cheese grits. Creamy, with just the right amount of cheddar tang, this Southern tradition had everyone smiling.

The tour provided by the friendly and sharp Angie proved perfect: it was already a million degrees, and one hour was satisfying and plentiful for us to learn that the wash bowl and stand in our Master Bedroom was Napoleonic and was used in battle by a commander who apparently was hooked on cleanliness. The stand all came apart and was reassembled wherever the troops bivouacked. The history just dripped from every wall and rose from all the little creaks in the floor. If you ever get a chance to explore outside NOLA, do come here.

The Morning at Madewood: coffee on the veranda, followed by a tour of the Master Bedroom (Napoleonic wash stand), a Dining Room, the old kitchen (you can see the hand print of a slave in the brick on the table), and the family plot.

Also take a tour of Laura Plantation in Vacherie, which is not too far from Madewood, and was on our way back to the airport (we passed Oak Alley, another famous plantation, but decided that our visit would have to wait until next year). Laura plantation was designed and run in the Creole style, and the history under this roof reads like a soap opera: murder, mayhem, fire, strong women, and shifty men. Our young tour guide, Stephen, provided much colorful commentary as he guided us from room to room, and through all the different species of banana trees in the garden.

Oak Alley Plantation. Laura Plantation, in the Creole style. Slaves house at Laura Plantation.

After our tour, we ate some lunch at B & C Seafood Cajun Restaurant, right next door, and sat down to our final Louisiana meal of fried oyster and catfish sandwiches, with normal-sized sides of onion rings and potato salad. Inexpensive, filling, fresh, and local. But by then, we were looking forward to making our own meals back in Brooklyn.

Upon arriving home, we unpacked all the bottles we brought back with us, making sure their were no casualties (only one little nip of Van Gogh Double Espresso Vodka lost its head . . . at least it made the shipping box smell heavenly). We opening the refrigerator door and witnessed some devastation: so very little of anything we wanted to nibble on. We’d have to motor to Fairway the next day and buy some local fresh vegetables, fruit, and, to recharge our batteries, steaks for the grill.

Last year’s mixed in with this year’s nips. What’s your poison?

If we have any advice to offer those who are new to Tales of the Cocktail, if you have never been to NOLA or Louisiana, take the time to step outside of the French Quarter, rent a car from Enterprise (it’s cheap and they’ll come pick you up at your hotel), and drive up the Mississippi to see history most of us have only read about or seen on the screen.

For some people, Tales of the Cocktails is a big party.  For others its an educational intensive.  For most, it’s a combination of the two.  However, for many people who are giving seminars, managing clients, throwing the parties, writing articles or any combination thereof, it can be one of the busiest work weeks of the year!

I first went to Tales in 2007 as a “civilian.”  That is to say, I attended seminars from morning til night, drank far too many samples during them, made a few new friends, and vowed that I would get involved the following year.

Well, Tales 2008 had me running like a chicken without a head as I teamed with Small Screen Network to produce The Liquid Muse video podcasts and tried (without much success) to blog along the way. I only got to, maybe, one seminar in the whole 5 days.

When Tales 2009 rolled around, I had more on my plate than ever but I was bound and determined to hit more seminars this year. And, luckily, I did.  Here is a recap of the seminars and parties I made it to – in case YOU didn’t!

Blogger Party
This event took place in an antique shop in the French Quarter.  That may seem like an odd place to amass a bevy of tipsy tipplers… but the party was sponsored by Martin Miller’s gin.  Mr. Martin Miller deals in antiques.  Hence – the choice of venue.  While bloggers can seem a strange lot on the surface (people who’d rather stay at home and drink with their computer friends via Internet rather than real life humans), these people are some of the most passionate about reviving cocktail culture.  Hours are spent researching, writing and sharing information – for free – so that others may learn.  Having launched The Liquid Muse as a blog, I am always interested in putting blogs-with-faces, so this is one  I wouldn’t have missed!

Benedictine Party
This was a cool one.  The Benedictine theme proved an intriguing backdrop for a cocktailian event in New Orleans.  The party staff dressed in full Benedictine monk costumes and somberly greeted the guests, made drinks and stood eerily around the space.  There was even a “fortune” telling of sorts, where guests received a scroll telling their social rank in Medieval times, and the corresponding glass to be filled with a potent Benedictine punch.

Big Trends
I only popped into the last few mintues of the Big Trends seminar.  All that really stuck in my head from my brief visit there is that blood orange and grapefruit will be popular this year.  (Frankly, both already are, as far as I’m concerned… but maybe they meant more “mainstream.”  Personally, I predict further growth in floral liqueurs. Watch out world – Crème Yvette is on its way!)

Tasting with Paul Pacult
Having done the B.A.R. last fall, I realized how much more I need to practice blind tasting various spirits next to one another.  Paul encouraged the group by saying that it’s a matter of practice rather than divine tastebuds to be a good taster:

1) Don’t Think Too Much (don’t trip yourself up by over-thinking it)
2) Follow A Format (same routine each time will help you)
3) Build A Library In Your Head (of smells, tastes)
4) Taste Blind Whenever You Can (practice makes perfect)
5) Identify A Category Through Elimination (rule out what it isn’t to get to what it is)
6) Don’t Taste More Than 10 At A Time
7) Taste As Much As You Can, Whenever You Can

Paul also suggested buying spices and practicing identifying them blindly.  (Great tip!)

Beefeater Welcome Party
This was quite the extravaganza, complete with royal pomp and circumstance.  One part carnival and one part elegant soiree, the event had great ambiance and even better drinks.  There was a ton of food, including a full pig off the spit, and cocktails galore.

Hendrick’s Party
The Hendrick’s ambassadors do an amazing job of tying the brand to an image it wants to portray.  This party promised a “peek into the peculiar” and it did not disappoint. The bar itself was made into the skirt of a giant woman – the human half sitting nearly a storey high above the party.  Charlotte Voisey greeted guests wearing an outlandish dress fit for a netherworld princess and ushered them down a hall where silver ladies were tethered to the railings and a caged lass swung like a happy bird on her perch, tumbling and turning somersaults.

Diageo Cocktail Carnival
This year’s humongous Happy Hour moved from Hotel Monteleone to NOLA’s Mardi Gras museum.  The two-level building is chock-full of colorful costumes and “Fat Tuesday” memorabilia spanning the last century.  Woven in-between them were cocktail-laden tables from 40 featured mixologists.  I was honored to be among those presenting their wares, and serving the only “nonalcoholic cocktail” in the joint, the Preggie Provence from my book “Preggatinis™.”

Media breakfast at Brennans featuring tequila cocktails by Bobby G.
If you’re gonna start your day with cocktails, make sure its worth it.  World-class mixologist Bobby G banged out gorgeous tequila cocktails to pair with Brennan’s traditional French Quarter breakfast.  A stewed apple came alongside a tequila drink with cantaloupe and dill.  The eggs benedict came with a spicy cocktail… don’t hold me to the details… the first cocktail of the morning had my brain cells from the moment it said “hello.”

Building Your Brand
Whether hawking a product or a service, Ted Wright of Fizz gave amazing tips for using Word-of-Mouth Marketing to advance a business.  His three main tips:

1) Be Interesting to the influencers who will share your story
2) Be Relevant
3) Be Authentic (B.S. is transparent.  So is sincerity.)

Hollywood Cocktails
Cheryl Charming has led the cocktail cinema for the last several years (pairing drinks with movies) so she was a natural to be part of this panel.  Simon Ford and Charlotte Voisey put some very intriguing facts together.  Marcos Tello, a native Angeleno, shared information on LA’s historic bars.  And, the ever-entertaining Ted Haigh acted out a whole movie before the audience, playing pretty much every role.  What it had to do with cocktails, I’m still not entirely sure… but it was my favorite moment out of any seminar, period.

Virgin Mixology
Finally, on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 pm, just when everyone’s liver’s were starting to groan, my Virgin Mixology seminar was on the agenda.  While nonalcoholic drinks weren’t exactly the sexiest temptation at Tales, the topic is a growing trend, I was excited to educate the audience about liquorless libations for people beyond the preggie party girls.  I custom designed three virgin drinks to be served during the talk – including the Sassy Southern Belle – which is the “Official Nonalcoholic Cocktail” of Tales, this year.  I also invited Timo Janse to be a surprise guest speaker.  His book, published in Dutch, focuses on juice drinks (ie: nonalcoholic cocktails) for kids, and he brought some European perspective to the attendees.

Spirit Awards
The Spirit Awards is our version of the Oscars, and it is so much fun for everyone to get dressed up and mingle, and recognize outstanding products, bars and people.  This year, I had a flash of inspiration and suggested to Ann that we get a red carpet so that I could interview nominees as they entered the ballroom at Harrah’s Casino.  She enthusiastically agreed, and the result is the Spirit Awards podcast, “Live From the Red Carpet.”

Parade and Bartenders Breakfast
After the Spirit Awards, it seems like the whole of New Orleans joins the parade from Harrahs, which then winds through the French Quarter and ends at the Bartender Breakfast at midnight.  The parade is, in fact, a funeral procession for the killing off and burial of a sub-par cocktail.  Last year it was the Sour Apple Martini, and this year, it was the Red Headed Slut.  What a party we had in honor of the demise of that little tramp!

Francesco Lafranconi
By Sunday, nearly everything was said and done… when I stumbled into Francesco’s fantastic seminar on tasting.  Yes, I started and ended my Tales seminars working on the skill I most want to develop – tasting and blind tasting spirits.  This seminar was a superb complement to Paul’s because although Francesco is covering similar content, he has a completely different approach.  It makes me want to run off to Vegas to study under the maestro!

That afternoon, I boarded a plane surrounded by some of my favorite bar-folk from Los Angeles, and headed home… only to think about how Tales of the Cocktail 2010 can top this year!

As a lover of Tequila and Mezcal i attended the Agavepalooza which was for me a not to be missed session. It was moderated by Steven Olson and panelists were David Suro Pinera, proprietor, Siembra Azul, Ron Cooper, owner and founder of Del Maguey Single Village Mezcals and  Dr Rodolfo Fernandéz,Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico.

They took us on a long journey to learn the history of and experience and sample the magnificient spirits of Mexico. Not only did we sample some very unusual spirits like hacienda de Chihuahua Sotol reposado which is made from a different agave than tequila and mexcal and is distilled in double copper stills having a very different flavour, we also did taste earth roast agave which was a very interesting experience.

The tasting also allowed us to sample Partida (Lowlands Jalisco) , Siete Leguas and Siembra Azul (Highlands Jalisco) blanco tequilas and Del Maguey Santo Domingo Albarradas which is a high mountain mezcal, Minero (Low broad valley) and Tobala (High mountain – made with wild mountain maguey)

The mezcals and tequilas was sipped in clay cups which definitely gave a different flavour experience.

The term mezcal is a description of the entire cathegory of distillates made from the steamed and roasted agave plant hearts and Tequila is a specific type of mezcal which originally was produced in Jalisco and around and in the town of Tequila but now is legally produced in 5  states in Mexico.

Before Tequila was produced with the help of distillation – brought by the Spanish in the early 1500s, the Aztecs consumed pulque which was a wine-like liquid made from fermented syrup extracted from the heart of the agave plant. The result of distilled roasted fermented maguey (agave) is mezcal. Tequila was more or less only consumed in Mexico until the American prohibition.

We were also served very tasty cocktails made by Junior Merino and Andy Seymour. This was a very interesting session and after it was finished those who were interested were treated to another tasting of more mezcals in the pool area.

This was a very heartical session and one of the best sessions i attended at the Tales.

It was a tough decision which Spirited Dinner to go to this year — so many menus looked great, we were teetering between Wolfe’s in the Warehouse and Iris and we thought long and hard about trying someplace new to us — but in the end it was kind of a shoo-in.  Jeff “Beachbum” Berry was mixing for another dinner this year, and last year he and Wayne Curtis made fantastic drinks to accompany Chef Chris DeBarr’s “Modern Tiki Cuisine” for one of the best meals I’d ever had … well, as much of it as I remember.

Bum and Wayne’s drinks contained a total of 7-1/2 ounces of rum during that three-hour meal, and it didn’t help that earlier in the day I’d had tastes of six Scotches, ten gins, eight brandies plus the Cocktail Hour event (inexplicably and invariably scheduled right before the Spirited Dinners).  Once I finally decided that I wanted the Bum’s drink pairings again, especially since this year he teamed up with Martin Cate, formerly of Forbidden Island and soon to be proprietor of Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, I knew some preparation was in order.  I decided I’d better take it easy during this year’s Tales Thursday so that this meal wouldn’t completely liquefy me — no taking three seminars in a row that involve copious amounts of spirits tasting in which Chuck fails to make use of the spit buckets.

Rick, giving friend that he is, helped out by adding an additional rule to his previous list of ten:  “Chuck is not allowed to drink before the Spirited Dinner.”  Despite that, I did manage to make it to the Cocktail Hour event, which 1) should be in the Presbytere every year, as it was a beautiful location for the event, and 2) should never again be scheduled before the Spirited Dinners unless they’re willing to provide buckets for us to be poured into.  Fortunately the gods were looking out for me at Cocktail Hour by causing my favorite bartenders to all run out of cups by the time I got to them.

A short walk from the Presbytere took us to GW Fins, one of the city’s newer restaurants (i.e., opened during the 21st Century rather than the 19th or early 20th) and a renowned destination for seafood.  Theirs was one of the two or three most exciting looking menus on the Tales site, plus we knew a ton of people who were going to this one too, all elements for a great evening.  Wes and I sat with several of our friends from Seattle and Portland, and we toasted each other with the welcoming cocktail, first of six for the evening.

Our Welcoming Cocktail

THE CRESCENT CITY BLOSSOM
(by Martin Cate)

2-1/2 ounces Moët & Chandon White Star Champagne
1 ounce Plymouth Gin
1 ounce St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
1/4 ounce Stirrings Blood Orange Bitters

Combine gin, St. Germain, and bitters in an ice-filled mixing glass. Stir until well chilled and strain into a Champagne glass. Top with Moët & Chandon. Garnish with a thin, 8-inch orange peel spiral.

Finally, after we had settled in and begun enjoying our aperitivo, our intrepid mixologists, Beachbum Berry and Martin Cate, arrived (along with GW Fins’ chef de cuisine) to welcome us and talk a little bit about what was to come, and how quickly their ideas for perfect cocktail pairings came to them as soon as they saw the proposed menu.

Some will argue that cocktail pairings are even better than wine pairings, as you can tailor the drink to the food very precisely. Whether you believe that or not, I’ll say that this particular meal featured some of the best food-beverage pairings I’ve ever had.

And now … dinner is served!

1st Course

We started with a Chilled Melon Soup, in the center of which was a huge scoop of jumbo lump crabmeat topped with cilantro sprouts.  Mixed into the soup were little balls of watermelon plus cantaloupe and honeydew melons, plus cubes of lime gelée, which provided a delightful little burst of tartness and change of texture every few bites or so.  The soup was bright, cool, refreshing and delicious — the lightness of the dish was welcome to those of us who’d been having hollandaise-napped egg dishes for breakfast or huge piles of fried seafood for lunch.  And, oh my Gawd, that crabmeat … I’ll eat pretty much anything that has a scoop of jumbo lump crabmeat in the middle.

1st Cocktail

Accompanying the watermelon soup was our first cocktail, the Menehune Gonzalez, made with blanco tequila, a great white agricole rum from Martinique, green Chartreuse and a housemade hibiscus tincture, a bottle of which being provided to each table so that each guest could add some to his or her individual serving as they pleased.  Lovely drink, and the flavors of both the base spirits and the Chartreuse played off one another quite nicely. The hibiscus gave it some color affinity as well as a bit of extra tartness, along the lines of the lime gelée in the soup.  We were off to a grand start.

MENEHUNE GONZALEZ
(by Martin Cate)

1 ounce El Tesoro Blanco tequila
1 ounce Rhum Clément Première Canne rum
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce orgeat
1/4 ounce green Chartreuse
Half an egg white

Shake vigorously and strain into a small ice-filled old fashioned glass.

Top with 3 to 4 drops hibiscus tincture.

To make a hibiscus tincture, take an ounce of dried hibiscus flowers (jamaica) and steep in about 5 ounces of alcohol (vodka or overproof white rum) for a couple of days, then strain and bottle.

2nd Cocktail

Quick on the heels of this great opening to the meal was our second (well, technically our third, but second course) cocktail, Captain Vadrna’s Grog — Old New Orleans Cajun Spiced Rum, lime and grapefruit juices and demerara syrup.  Nice big aromatic cinnamon stick as garnish, and … a pirate flag!  Almost immediately, my friend Rocky and I broke into a chorus of “Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life For Me” (assisted by some quick Googling on Rocky’s phone, as we both ran out of lyrics after the first verse).  Pretty quickly a fair swath of the restaruant was singing along, undoubtedly to the bewilderment of the guests who were there for the restaurant’s regular menu and not for the Spirited Dinner.

CAPTAIN VADRNA’S GROG
(by Jeff Berry)

2-1/2 ounces Old New Orleans Cajun Spiced rum
1/2 ounce white grapefruit juice
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
3/4 ounce Demerara sugar syrup (1:1)
Dash Angostura bitters

Shake well with plenty of ice, then pour unstrained into a double old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and vanilla bean both speared to a lime wedge, floated in drink.

Word trickled back from the bar that once Bum and Martin heard that they said they knew the party had finally started … either that or had already gotten out of hand, I forget which.

2nd Course

Before we got too far ahead of ourselves, the 2nd course arrived: Prosciutto-Wrapped Figs with mâche, cinnamon mascarpone and candied pistachios. I’d almost eat this as a dessert — fruit stuffed with spiced cheese and wrapped in pig.  It’s many of my favorite things, on a plate!  Oh, and greens to make it officially salady, but … the sweetness and nuttiness of the mâche went beautifully with the spiced rum in that cocktail.  So did the cinnamon-spiced mascarpone, which caught the cinnamon and nutmeg notes of the rum. The lettuce was gorgeous with the pistachios too, and the candied crunch of the nuts was balanced by the tart citrus juices.  Salads are notoriously difficult to pair with wines, but this one, even with its balsamic drizzle, was superb with this drink, and the drink was superb with the dish.

3rd Cocktail

Third cocktail!  Oh my, this is a big one.  Served in a pilsner glass — we’re not messing around.  This was the Hedgehog’s Dilemma — caramelized mango, lemon juice, Noilly Prat dry vermouth, passion fruit syrup, Myers’s Platinum rum and Angostura bitters.  A fantastic drink, and on its own I’d be more than happy to order it again from any tiki bar’s menu.

HEDGEHOG’S DILEMMA
(by Martin Cate)

Half of a fresh mango
Teaspoon of raw sugar

1 ounce Noilly Prat dry vermouth
1/2 ounce passion fruit syrup (equal parts 2:1 simple syrup and Funkin Passion Fruit Puree)
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup (optional – to taste)
1-1/2 ounces Myers’s Platinum Rum
Dash Angostura bitters

Dice half of a mango into 3/4″ cubes. Toss with 1 teaspoon of raw sugar. Sauté in a non-stick skillet over medium heat until the mango chunks are browned on all sides. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a mixing glass, add the mango chunks and dry vermouth and muddle. Add the remaining ingredients and shake with cracked ice. Double strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with mango chunks and a lemon twist on a skewer.

It’s so rare to get mango in a really good cocktail (those nasty mango-flavored rums and vodkas just don’t cut it) and this one, with tart passion fruit and tempered a bit by the vermouth, was probably the best mango-based cocktail I’d ever had (at least that I can remember).  But when paired with this …

3rd Course

Wood-Grilled Louisiana Shrimp, with lemon and papaya relish. This is classic New Orleans cuisine, adding the consideration that New Orleans is the northernmost port in the Caribbean.  Heads-on shrimp (which you can almost never get in a restaurant in places like California, lest wimpy, timid patrons run screaming from the dining room at the sight of the monster on their plate, still wearing its head … where so much of the flavor is!), perfectly seasoned, nice and peppery but not too much so, with the tropical flavor of the papaya in the glaze and the sauce that married so beautifully with the drink that I practically wanted to buy them a wedding present.  This dish was such a synthesis of classic Creole and Caribbean flavors and techniques, with that drink sailing up to meet it, that it made me very happy.

Four pretty huge shrimp were both quite enough, considering we’d be having five courses, yet left me wanting more.  Then entire pineapples were brought to the table.

4th Cocktail

It was our next drink!  Applause and giggles greeted this one, as the pineapples had straws sticking out of them … we lifted the lid to find the whole fruit filled with a beverage, man!  This was the Miehana – pineapple, orange and lime juices, Cruzan Estate dark rum, Cruzan Coconut Rum and Grand Marnier.  Also very refreshing, and not as sweet as you’d think it might be.

MIEHANA
(by Jeff Berry)

1 ounce fresh lime juice
1 ounce orange juice
1 ounce unsweetened pineapple juice
1 ounce Grand Marnier
1 ounce Cruzan Estate Dark rum
1 ounce Cruzan Coconut rum

Shake well with ice cubes. Pour unstrained into a cored pineapple. If necessary, add more ice to fill.

It was another drink I’d be happy to have in any tiki bar, but in a tiki bar you’re generally not going to get anything like this:

4th Course

Our 4th course was Pineapple Basil Glazed Mahimahi, with coconut-cashew rice, crispy plantains and lemongrass butter.  This is the kind of dish people wished they could have gotten in the “Polynesian” restaurants in the 1950s and ’60s, because it epitomizes what that cuisine aspired to but rarely attained.  Gorgeous tropical flavors, a perfectly grilled piece of fish, and all of the flavors of the dish and the cocktail working in harmony with each other.  This dish actually made us all laugh — that’s how delightful it was.  And lest you think it was overly sweet, it wasn’t.  The acids in the cocktail helped cut through the sugars, the richness of the lemongrass beurre blanc added richness to balance the acids and sugars, the plantains added texture and starch and were decidedly not sweet but the flavors complemented everything else.  That drink with this course is one of the best food-drink pairings I’ve ever had.  Fun fun fun.

Another cocktail arrived (good lord, was this really the sixth drink?), called the Pupule.  Most certainly a dessert cocktail, but again, not overly sweet and well-balanced.

PUPULE
(by Jeff Berry)

1 ounce unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/4 ounce Bols white creme de cacao
1/4 ounce Chambord
1 ounce Angostura 1919 rum

Shake well with ice cubes. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a small purple orchid.

Our dessert was a Frozen Peach Soufflé, with a raspberry coulis and a few fresh raspberries.  Simple, delicious and summery, and entirely appropriate given that it was roasting outside.  The rum, with hints of chocolate plus more raspberry, were just the thing to have with this dessert.   It’s such a pleasure to have a dessert cocktail that’s not filled with heavy cream or with enough liqueurs to make it as sweet as a candy bar.

We had a fantastic time, fantastic food, fantastic drinks (and Rocky realized that the Miehana came in the ultimate go-cup), but it wasn’t quite over yet.  There were lovely parting gifts!

60/40

We were each presented with a bottled cocktail called the 60/40, a combination of 60% Averna amaro and 40% St. Germain elderflower liqueur, which went right into the back pocket.   It was the perfect amount of liquor to last us until we could walk all the way to Arnaud’s French 75 Bar for nightcaps … right across the street.  (Okay, the 60/40 survived intact until after we went home.)

Thanks again to GW Fins for a memorable meal, Martin and Jeff for the drinks, and to Jeff for providing the recipes and coring all those pineapples!