My excitement for Tales last year was nearly indescribable short of making obtuse Star Trek references, and this year is no easier. I am now at a loss as to how convey my utter joy without pointing to Dune, MacGyver, or maybe even Stan Jones for advice. Last year, I met a host of cocktail […]

Tales of the Cocktail is anticipated, hot, and maniacally joyful. The event draws cocktail creatures of every ilk and creed to New Orleans for way too many days of imbibing and revelry. To be blunt, it’s deadly and awesome. Rad, even. Last year I posted some lessons learned from Tales of the Cocktail. Some are […]

If you are having trouble finding Jeffrey Morganthaler, it’s because you haven’t looked at the pool. When every bar you go to is four deep, find Jeff Berry in the lobby of the hotel and he’ll ply you with Clement XO. You might think it a good idea to go to Pat O’Briens for a […]

4:29pm – Our panelists today are Erik Ellestad, John Deragon, Jamie Boudreau, and Robert Hess. 4:34pm – Robert Hess takes the mic to talk about bitters. He ran into Abbot’s bitters on ebay. It survived through prohibition, unlike many bitters, but it wasn’t made past the 60s. No one knows what happened to the company, […]

This one was wonderfully covered by Craig Hermann from Tiki Drinks and Indigo Firmaments, but I snapped a few photos. So read his post and enjoy!

A momentous thanks to Chef Chris DeBarr, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry and his lovely wife, and Wayne Curtis for making a magical evening for all of us. I greatly enjoyed the spirited dinner at the Delachaise last year, but this blew it out of the water. For your salivating pleasure, here is the full menu (taken […]

4:27pm – The panelists for this highly anticipated session are Darcy O’Neil, Robert Hess, Jamie Boudreau, Audrey Saunders, and Eben Freeman. In front of us is a mysterious and small manila envelope. If I had to wager, I’d say it contains taste strips. These strips may, indeed, make some super-tasters in the room cry. We […]

12:29pm – Our panelists today are Wayne Curtis, Angus Winchester, Ben Jones (Rum Clement) and Chesterfield Browne (Mount Gay). This is going to be an exciting one. 12:42pm – Here are the cocktails for the session: Winchester Swizzle 1 1/2oz Bacardi 8 1/2oz Rock Candy Syrup 1/4oz falernum 1oz lime juice Serve over crushed ice. […]

10:46am – Ted Haigh begins by going into the origins of the cocktail. Most likely a warm whiskey cocktail, with bitters playing a very important role. Newspapers took the role of publishing recipes, but it took 60 years before cocktails were popular enough to publish in Jerry Thomas’s bar guide. 10:51am – Germans were the […]

4:35pm – Mike McCaw, Matthew Rowley, and Ian Smiley are heading up this panel on artisan nano-distilling, and the bloggers are here in force. 4:37pm – Exciting! We’re going to get to try some moonshine. 4:43pm – There’s an excellent slide of Mountain Spirits by Joseph Earl Dabney on the screen. Joe, pictured on the […]