I don’t think I can adequately convey how excited I am for Tales of the Cocktail. I’m going to get to meet all the fine gentlemen and ladies whom I’ve been sharing my love of mixology with for over a year. We’ll be eating at delectable restaurants and cocktails will be around every corner. The schedule makes this quite clear, and I quote “Don’t be afraid of ordering a Sazerac for breakfast.” Breakfast is at 8:30am.

Things I’m Excited About

• Watching Paul and Darcy mix up cocktails for the spirited tasting menu at Delachaise
• Thanking Jeff Berry for single-handedly “forcing” me to acquire close to 40 new rums and liqueurs
• Adding to my list of hard-to-find spirits in the “Lost Ingredients” panel
• Sessions on rum, tiki drinks, absinthe, vermouth, ice, and way more that I’m not going to have time to see
• Meeting everyone!
• Listening to Gretchen play her violin at a random park or street corner
• My panel on Saturday with Paul, Darcy, and Chuck: “Cocktails and the Blogosphere”
• Gumbo and Sazeracs
• Blogging the whole experience

Wednesday is pretty relaxed for us. We arrive late afternoon at the Hotel Monteleone, which appears to be nothing short of the coolest historic hotel around. Hopefully registration for Tales goes quickly and we can wander around the French Quarter and meet up with fellow cocktailians before the opening dinner at Riche, Todd English’s French brasserie.

I’m not entirely sure what Internet access I’ll have during the day, but I hope to update Kaiser Penguin during some of the sessions and at breaks. At the least, I’ll make sure to get in a lengthy post about the day before passing out in my room.

I’ll try to nail down my schedule and post it up here tomorrow. If there are any events that you would like a report on, let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to attend.