An Alcoholic Start
Posted by The Raven in Reposts - Caw on November 30, 2009
Author’s note: For four years or so, I have been writing “The Raven’s Caw” as a regular feature for theBarNoneDrinks newsletter. With the inception of “Quaff the Raven”, we’ve gone to a new format for my articles. In an effort to make some of the old writings more accessible, I will be reposting some of the better material from the early Caw days here on the blog. If you’ve got a favorite you’d like reposted, leave a comment. I will be doing some editing, because, quite frankly, some of my old stuff is terribly written.
Most people may never really think about how whiskey (or whisky, depending on where you’re from) differs from rum, vodka, gin or tequila (thats the big five, right?) Sure, they taste different… but why? Well, after years of research into the creation of CH3CH2OH, I’m here to shed some light into the beverage that has helped so many of us loosen up after a hard day at work and from this plucky American’s view, the only thing that makes watching cricket bearable.
All alcohols have one thing in common: sugar. Whether its Russian vodka, Mexican tequila, French wine, German beer, Jamaican rum or American whiskey, all of these start as sugar. Most people are familiar with the origin of wine, the creation of which brings to mind the images of French women with their dresses hiked up to their knees standing in great vats of grapes. Many have heard that vodka is made of potatoes and few know what the agave plant that grows in the deserts of North America has to do with their margarita. It’s all about the sugar. What’s more, all of our varied beverages of choice are derivative of just three sugars: fruit, cane and grain.
How can this be? I hear you cry, gentle reader. Fear not, I am here to wade through the mysteries of booze. We’ll break them down into each of the sugars…
*Fruit: this sugar is derived from fruits and vegetables (yes, vegetables and even some flowers). The most common fruit alcohol is, yes, you guessed it, wine. From wine, we get the many of the distillates of wine: cognac, brandy, armagnac and many smaller varieties. In fact, there are very few other alcohols manufactured exclusively from fruit, a few examples being cider and applejack. That is not to say that there aren’t other boozes that are influenced by fruit, but as well see, vodkas that have a fruit attached to their name are not actually made from the fruit, but rather flavored with it after the fact.
*Cane: This is best known as table sugar (if there is such a thing.) The sugar you put in your coffee (or tea, for my charming cousins), the sugar you bake into your cakes, the sugar that flavors your candies, this is cane sugar. In Hawaii and in the Caribbean this sugar is mashed and refined from the canes that grow naturally in these tropical climes. Elsewhere, this sugar is pulled from within beets. This sugar was responsible for the preferred drink of pirates as they sacked the Spanish Main, and is what makes daiquiris so delicious. Yes, from the sugar cane of the Caribbean we get rum. And pretty much only rum… cane sugar isnt exactly multi-talented.
*Grain: Ah, my favorite, and the favorite of beer gulpers, gin drinkers, vodka quaffers and whiskey shooters. Throughout human history, grain has fed us and, well, intoxicated us. Grain alcohol follows very specific timelines to determine what it actually becomes. If you stop grain alcohol before the yeast dies off, you get beer. If you let the yeast die and then distill it once or twice, then run it through peat or charcoal filters and stick it in barrels, you get whiskey. If you distill it three times, regardless of the type of grain, you get vodka. If you take that vodka and throw in a bunch of herbs and spices you get any of a thousand liquors and liqueurs. Add juniper, you get gin. Add almonds, get amaretto. Add anise, get Galliano, anisette, absinthe, ouzo, sambuca… I’ll stop.
Grain gets even better. When you hear of farmers feeding beer to cows to make them tender, often this is misleading. What the farmers are actually feeding to the animals is whats left after beer. This goopy, smelly collection of malt, hops and barley is fed to the cattle, nourishing them and intoxicating them at the same time. Our friends down under have a different name for this cow food than we in the northern hemisphere do. They call it Vegemite. Yep, the stuff they spread on nearly everything is a chopped, pressed and processed version of what they scrape out of the barrel at the end of beer making. Trust me on this, the beer is way better.
As the oil burns low, and my glass of single barrel sour mash gets empty, I will take my leave. Good night, and tune in next month to once again hear The Raven’s Caw.
Homer Pics!
What does a plucked Raven look like? D’oh!
Happy Hallowe’en
Posted by The Raven in Newsletter on October 31, 2009
My friends, Hallowe’en means many things to me. As you may have guessed, I have a bit of a penchant for dark stories and poetry (I mean, really, “The Raven”!). This holiday, in all of its hijacked glory, is the one chance a year most of us have to assume another identity. Of course, most people don’t see it quite so philosophically, but they still indulge from time to time. This is never quite so obvious as in the Hallowe’en party.
I’m sure you’ve all got a good story that includes too much alcohol and some sort of costume mishap. Most of my Hallowe’en party stories, however, are a bit tamer than that, because my younger sister’s birthday is October 31st. As you might imagine, the notion of throwing a raucous, booze-laden costume party was never a particularly popular sentiment at my house. Even when my sister would have been up for some pre-legal drinking, mum and dad would have wondered why they weren’t asked to the party.
All of this is to say that, after a childhood of Hallowe’en parties that involved birthday cake and presents, my sister’s 21st was destined to be one for the ages. One of the things I really love about this holiday is the storytelling. Allow me now to tell you the tale of that wonderfully mischievous night.
As I had already established myself as the go to bartender, I assumed that post for the night. My friends and I planned out a cocktail menu in advance, and made sure that we’d stocked our home bar with a good selection from across the spectrum. We were planning on some Brain Hemorrhages and other spooky drinks, and we all had our favorite liquors. My sister’s favorite was <ahem> nothing yet, for she had just turned 21 and had never had a drink in her life. ’Least, that’s what she told me. As you can imagine, it caught me by surprise when she came up and asked for cocktails by name.
Well, the party went on, and as we were on the tail end of the main part of the party, I decided that it was my job to truly initiate my sister into adulthood. I pondered for a minute as to the best method of doing this, and decided that it had to be some sort of suicide cocktail. Now, something within my clicked when I thought back to all those lame Hallowe’ens that I didn’t get to go trick-or-treating or hang out with my friends (’cause instead I was hanging out with her icky girlfriends), and I thought that this would be a great way to settle the score.
I’d provide the recipe for what I made her that night, but there aren’t enough bits in cyberspace to include all of the ingredients. I quite literally poured a little bit of every bottle into a shaker. At first glance, that isn’t too bad; there are a lot of cocktails that use a lot of different liquors to great ends. This cocktail, however, was not to be one of those. Consider for a second what Bailey’s and OJ might taste like together.
Well, I have to give her props, she drank the entire concoction. She was actually able to keep it down for about an hour and a half, too. My sister learned two very important lessons that night: Big Brother has a long memory, and binge drinking is no fun.
I tell this story not to illustrate the inherent cruelty in it, nor indicate some long-standing resentment with my sis (quite the opposite , in fact, she laughs about it now). Instead I tell this story because it’s one of those things that causes me to chuckle when I think back to my earlier days, and I was really in the mood to tell a story. I suspect that this may not reach you until All Saint’s Day, in which case I hope you had a Happy Hallowe’en, and I bid you to ‘Remember, remember, the 5th of November!’
Caw!
The Coming Storm…
Posted by The Raven in Newsletter on September 30, 2009
Hi all. Let me first apologize for staying so silent over the last few months; a busy work schedule combined with a homework-heavy semester in my MBA program have prevented me from writing as much as I’d like. The flip side, though, is that I have a good excuse to drink when I slow down enough to take a breath. Over the last month I have been trying this drink out at various restaurants and bars in my local area, and I think it is time to debut my newest project, The Rainstorm.
2 parts Disaronno
1 part Sloe Gin
Fill with OJ
This crafty imbibation was made on a whim from a challenge I offered to a bartender: make me a martini based in Disaronno. The Rainstorm must be served cold; if you let it warm up, the sweet flavors all start to meld together into a syrupy mess. Also, the brand of sloe gin makes a big difference, as does the amaretto. I had one made at a restaurant that used Bols for both, and it just wasn’t the same. Made correctly, with the right brands (I use Hiram Walker at home), the Rainstorm is an opaque reddish pink, somewhat reminiscent of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. This is definitely a drink to have as dessert, not with it, unless you are the kind of person who likes deep fried Coke syrup.
As I’m a fan of double entendres, the title of this article doesn’t just refer to the drink above. There’s a storm a-brewin’ in the States that could have some far-reaching effects. A group of college presidents, anxious about the binge drinking and associated troubles that are prevalent on their campuses, have signed on to a statement called the “Amethyst Initiative”. The AI is a call for ‘an informed and unimpeded debate’ about the drinking age in the United States, and whether it should be lowered. This has, of course, started a debate that threatens to break the very bonds of the ‘dispassionate’ discourse that these academicians hoped to achieve.
***My opinion, for what it’s worth.***
The Amethyst Initiative seems to be a way for some college presidents to say “We can’t control our student bodies.” While I can come up with a number of reasons to have the debate, it seems odd coming from institutions of higher learning. On the actual issue, I’ve always thought that someone old enough to die for their country (in the military) should be old enough to drink in it. I also believe that all forms of abstinence, be it sexual, chemical, or social, are dangerous, especially when the subject is not a willing abstainer and is presented with a chance to indulge. In this point, I agree with the AI; legally preventing our youngens from imbibing makes them more likely to binge drink, and less likely to seek help when it goes too far.
***
Of course, our friends to the north spend a good amount of time laughing in our general direction, at least when they’re young. I’m not sure how they feel when they’re older…maybe I’ll get a few responses to this article.
The issue aside, I have wondered over the last year or so why they called the project ‘Amethyst’. Well, turns out, the explanation is on their website. Amethyst is of Greek origin, meaning ‘not intoxicated’. She was a target of Dionysus’ rage (lust?) one day when he was drunk on red wine. She cried out to Diana for help, who turned the girl into white stone. Dionysus, seeing what he had wrought, cried copious tears into his goblet, causing the red wine to spill all over the girl-statue, turning it purple. Since then, amethyst has been used to ward off the negative effects of intoxication, and was used extensively in drinkware and bacchanal jewelry.
The Three Martini What?
Alright, it’s been a long time since I’ve really had a chance, or a call, to rant. And when I rant, the walls of the internet shake. There is a bastion of corporate culture that has been slowly eroded, much to the dismay of those of us who still pull on the corporate noose and trudge to work on a regular basis. I suppose my intent to create some sort of building suspense was probably rendered moot by using the subject of my rant in the title of the post…
Where has the three martini lunch gone? Hell, what about the one martini lunch? Or a glass of wine with lunch? Or a bourbon on the rocks to close a business deal? In every job I’ve had there has been an express prohibition of consuming alcohol while on the clock (which gets particularly difficult in a job where I’m technically always on call). Why have we, as a society, decided that people who are responsible enough to handle a lot of money are not responsible enough to manage their ability to have a bit of a tipple at lunch?
It’s worth stopping here to explain why I feel the need to rant. The other day I went out with a friend to a somewhat pricey cocktail lounge/restaurant and treated myself to a three martini dinner. For full disclosure, I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to the lable of ‘martini’; something called a martini should have gin and vermouth, and nothing else. For the purposes of this rant, however, martini will refer to any cocktail that is served in martini style stemware and which is more or less a base and a flavoring, both of which are alcoholic. Quite frankly, the notion of consuming 12 ounces of gin in a single sitting makes me somewhat ill. But anyway…the three martini dinner. This ‘dinner’ consisted of a Manhattan (which was, in the words of Fat Tony, superb), a local imbibation known as a Kactus Kooler (which was supposed to be reminiscient of the orange and pineapple soda of the same name; it fell short, but was still delectable) and a bartender’s challenge unnamed entry which consisted of amaretto, orange juice, and sloe gin (I have no idea of the proportions…maybe my friends at the Mixoloseum can help.)
This was one of the most enjoyable dinners I’ve had in some time, and it had little to do with the food (which was an acceptable version of a spinach-artichoke dip) or the particular flavor of the drinks (though my moonlight occupation as a cocktail blogger did fuel part of the night.) Rather, having just completed 8 hours of intense study, a little bit of relaxation was necessary to even think clearly. Our conversation had taken on a slightly business-y context, making plans for future opportunities and what not, and I was struck by the clarity of mind I felt because I was unfettered by nagging stress-related aches and pains.
This got me thinking: work can get kind of stressful…o.k., really stressful. Why have we cut ourselves off culturally from the very thing that has made the world go ’round?
Worth thinking about…
Alcohol and medicine
Posted by The Raven in Reposts - Caw on August 1, 2009
Author’s note: For four years or so, I have been writing “The Raven’s Caw” as a regular feature for the BarNoneDrinks newsletter. With the inception of “Quaff the Raven”, we’ve gone to a new format for my articles. In an effort to make some of the old writings more accessible, I will be reposting some of the better material from the early Caw days here on the blog. If you’ve got a favorite you’d like reposted, leave a comment. I will be doing some editing, because, quite frankly, some of my old stuff is terribly written.
Welcome back, all. This month I’m going to touch on a topic which has become something of a taboo in the world of alcohol. This topic is not often discussed because it is almost always equated with addiction and dependence. I am referring to the medicinal qualities of booze. It is important to note, as you read this, that I am not a medical professional; the information I provide is simply gleaned from a basic understanding of alcohol’s effect on the body. I am providing historical and contemporary facts, but not suggesting that anyone try anything that they wouldn’t normally try without the advice of a doctor. All that being said, I trust that our readership is smart enough to know what is wise to try and what is not…
To understand the possibilities of alcohol, it is important to know, more or less, what it does to the body on a chemical level. Like any substance (even water and oxygen), large amounts of alcohol have a much different effect than small amounts. When drinking alcohol, some of its effects are immediately noticeable; your mouth may burn from the contact, or your throat may become numb. When the drink hits your stomach, it starts getting absorbed into the bloodstream. This is where the fun begins. One of the first effects is a mild diluting of the blood. On a cognitive level, this doesn’t do much — you may experience a slight calming effect as physical stresses are mitigated away with the lower blood pressure. Properly used, one drink (a standard drink) can be quite effective at getting rid of a headache at the end of the day. It is, again, important to note here that just as you would not pop a painkiller everyday without the advice of a physician, neither should you use a shot of booze every night to take the edge off. If you find that you have the headache whenever you don’t have the booze, seek help.
The next few stages of intoxication, up to and including drunkenness, are pretty similar from a medical standpoint. As more alcohol gets into your bloodstream, your inhibitions melt away. This often is interpreted as alcohol acting as a stimulant. The experienced stimulation, oft referred to as liquid courage, isn’t really stimulation at all; its actually a depressant effect, as your ability to moderate your behavior is depressed. But enough about that…
Throughout the years, alcohol has had many other uses as well. In many cultures, the plant that the alcohol is made from can give it aphrodisiacal effects. In Mexico, the bottlers of Damiana Liquor even bottle their libation in a bottle shaped as a pregnant Incan fertility goddess. Check them out, but be warned, Damiana is not for everyone, aphrodisiacal effects or not. Most scientific journals discount alcohol’s effects as a love drug for a number of reasons… I won’t bother going through them. Instead, I am reminded of a quote from William Shakespeare: Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance… (Macbeth, II,iii).
It is quite strange, and probably a testament to the nature of humans who learn only what they want, to know that in other parts of the world, namely Europe and its protectorates, alcohol’s poisonous effects were well known, and used on a fairly regular basis. Many people have heard the term Mother’s Ruin when referring to gin (gin has had a number of nicknames through the years, but many not so kind ones when it hit London’s East End). Now, many, like the author, probably attributed this to gin’s ability to turn many young boys and girls into drunken louts that would commit all sorts of atrocities, enough to ruin any mother. But, alas, this is not why it got the colorful moniker. Gin, with its entire debut splendor as a pleasant delivery for quinine, was used by the unscrupulous and the poor as an abortificant. Pump enough gin into a young girl carrying an unwanted child and, poof, you’ve got yourself a spontaneous abortion. Its amazing what some will do. (This is one of those points where I feel it is absolutely necessary to say that, even a century ago, this is a very dangerous way of ridding yourself of a child, and if you are so desperate to do this, please seek medical help. I’m not a doctor, this isn’t medical advice. It’s a history lesson!)
On to something more pleasant… a newly released study in the Hort
Technology journal has brought about some interesting uses of alcohol on a different sort of living things…house plants! In this study, the authors report that by diluting hard alcohols down to about 10% ABV and using them to water plants, they came up with some interesting results. The plant, its stalk, leaves and such were dwarfed by the alcohol, but the flower remained as large as ever. The study was conducted using a narcissus flower, and the results were clear; the shorter, stockier plant carried the flower much easier, without any drooping or breaking of the stalk. This has little real ramifications, except perhaps if youre interested in some unusual plants, but the author (of the study, and probably The Raven as well) intends to try this dwarfing experiment with vegetables. It is important to note that you cannot use beer or wine, they are often of the correct ABV but the residual sugar is thought to be too high. Also, I wouldn’t try this with irreplaceable plants…it’s not well tested.
Good readers, I must away, the inkwell is dry, and my glass is empty. Thank you for your time, and please join me again for another month of The Ravens Caw.
Raven’s TotC Awards
Posted by The Raven in Tales of the Cocktail on July 28, 2009
Folks, it’s been two weeks since Tales of the Cocktail 2009, and I’m just now getting around to doing my wrap-up. To be fair, I have officiated a wedding, started to move my apartment, decided not to move my apartment, and had to catch up with work. Nonetheless, I have a great deal of things to relay to you, and I hope that my stories make you salivate and immediately book your trip for next year. Every year, TotC hosts the Spirited Awards, in which such esoteric categories as “Best U.S. Bartender” and “Best Bar in the World” are awarded based on voting by visitors to the TotC site. (I am, of course, being facetious when I downplay the value of these awards, and if I ever make it to NYC I’ll be sure to visit P.D.T.) In the spirit of the awards ceremony, I now present my TotC awards, in no particular order, and in the categories I determine to be awardable.
Best Session:
The title of Best Session or Seminar is given to the most interesting, well-presented, or otherwise notable event that is offered only to paying guests (as opposed to free events). For the event to be considered, it must have been attended by the nominator (me, Dan, or Carine), which makes for a significantly shorter list than last year. I won’t bother with nominees – the winner is: Tell It Like It Is!
This seminar, hosted on the last day by Francesco Lafranconi of Southern Wine and Spirits, was dedicated to the senses of smell and taste, much to the confusion of the people who read only the title. We were treated to a fairly scientific discussion on the sense of smell, which I promise I’ll go deeper into in a future post. The best part of the session was the nearly two dozen olfactory samples provided for our perusal. You might never appreciate how the scent of beeswax figures in to your favorite whiskey until you’ve nosed them side by side. The end of the session was punctuated by a sampling of a product that I am very excited to be announcing, and it brings me to my next award:
Best New Product:
The Best New Product award is presented to a non-alcoholic product determined by Raven to be the coolest thing he saw that he’d never seen before. This year there were two nominees. The first nominee, and not the winner, is the Evolution Mobile Bar, which is a bar that fits into a case not much bigger than your standard suitcase, and which makes setting up a fully functioning bar possible almost anywhere. Way too cool, if a little expensive, these things were everywhere at Tales. Best for corporate-style events or really big parties; I’m not quite sure what you’d do with one in an apartment.
The winner of the Best New Product is Gläce Ice (pronounced ‘gloss’). Gläce is blasting open the market for luxury ice, and is doing it with style. Roberto Sequeira heads up the company (follow him on Twitter @GlaceLuxuryIce); a great guy. Gläce uses purified water, not artesian sources, to produce an absolutely flavorless ice cube. I’ve misspoken, of course, because Gläce creates perfect spheres of ice. Anyone who has ever had a cocktail ruined by ‘flavorful’ ice will appreciate that which Roberto and Gläce is doing for the world. It’s a bit on the expensive side, but worth it for a special event.
Best Marketing:
Surely a strange category to give out an award for, but given so many examples of marketing (some good and some bad) at TotC, I thought it worth mentioning a particularly great campaign. As a member of the ‘media’, I received many emails from various concerns prior to the event, but one particularly caught my eye. There was no immediate mention of a product, just an invitation to tailor my experience at TotC for unimaginablele pleasure. How does a red-blooded man not respond to that?
Long story short, I did respond, and was presented with a few choices of a gift to choose. The email made sure that I stopped by the tasting room, which leads right into the next category:
Best Tasting Room:
When considering the options for Best Tasting Room, I had to weigh many different facets – what criteria do you use? Is the decor more important than the product? Maybe the people – the ambassadors, marketers…the models? In awarding this honor, I have decided to use the quantity of samples consumed by me as the deciding factor (though the models – and the marketing team – didn’t hurt). The award goes to:
Xante. This new-ish product (it’s been in Europe for ten years) is a blend of cognac and Belgian pears. I’m going to keep my description short, as I hope to bring you a full review at a later date, but suffice to say that I had at least 6 ounces in the half hour I was in the room.
(For those that didn’t figure it out, Xante won the Best Marketing award too.)
Best Party:
This award is for the best invitation-only event. Rather than waste a bunch of time on exposition, I’m just going to jump right in. Benedictine turned the Broussard’s Restaurant into a monastery-inspired celebration, full of monks, alchemy, and chanting (mixed with lively, if disconcerting, dance beats.) Though I had to leave my souvenir glass behind (too much weight in the suitcase), I was able to alight with a few tokens of alms that I was supposed to trade for a reading of my fate. As party reviewing is not my forte, I’ll leave you with the knowledge that it was worth going to, and that you should try to get to Tales next year.
Most Amazing Product-Related Event:
This category is so-named because all of the other names I came up with would be better suited for future categories. I’m going to include this particular event into my follow-up post, but it deserved a mention here. The folks at Grey Goose offered a special tasting at midnight they called dans le noir or ‘in the dark’, because, well, it was completely in the dark. The staff were all equipped with night vision goggles. That’s how dark it was. You’ve never enjoyed the scent of an alcohol until you’ve deprived your eyes of their use. More later. I promise.
Best Bucket List Check-off:
Folks, I got to cross something off my bucket list. You know, those things that you just have to do before you die. Well, I got to do one. I got to walk down the streets of New Orleans accompanying a funeral, complete with a brass band playing “When the Saints Go Marching In”. I know that might seem a bit morbid to some people, but as a jazz enthusiast, the thrill of enjoying this microcosm of the roots of that great American music well outweighed the little fact that death was in the air. Of course, it didn’t hurt that the deceased was none other than the Red-Headed Slut, the cocktail chosen by Tales-goers to be buried in 2009′s funeral. If you’ve never heard ‘Saints’ on the streets of New Orleans, you haven’t lived.
Most Awesomest Experience:
This doesn’t exactly count as an award, and it’s an experience that is pretty much unique to me, but it is the kind of thing that can happen to you if you hang out long enough with cool enough people at Tales of the Cocktail. Dan, Carine, and I were watching The Chef and the Fat Man show, when we were asked to film and photograph the goings on by none other than the Chef and the Fat Man. If you listen to the first show from Tales (available on iTunes: go subscribe now!) you can hear the Fat Man give a shout out to lil’ ol’ me.
Now, I’ve never really been behind the camera (though I have been paid for it before) for a live event, but I was more than happy to join in the fun. I don’t know if the footage will ever make it to the wide world, but I recorded the entire second show. A most awesomest experience.
Best Dining:
In a city like New Orleans, awarding Best Dining is too much for one man, especially one as inexperienced as I, to attempt. With all the things that go into great dining, I can’t hardly claim to have tried enough to make a comparison. What I can do is tell you that Arnaud’s Jazz Bistro is worth eating at. Right off Bourbon Street, Dan, Carine, and I joined Kevin Jenkins (Fat Man) at Arnaud’s for an amazing meal, followed by a once in a lifetime presentation of Cafe Brule. I’ll grant you that I don’t drink coffee, but I enjoy watching fire run down an orange that causes cloves to glow red. Trust me, you need to see it.
Well, y’all, this is easily my longest post yet, so I’ll stop now. If I come up with more awards, I’ll put them up later. Please enjoy that which I’ve put forth. Please comment if you think I’m way off base, or if you like what I’ve said, or if you just want to say hi!
Day 3: part 1 (at least)
Posted by The Raven in Tales of the Cocktail on July 11, 2009
Friends, Friday at Tales of the Cocktail 2009 is a day I will have to work hard to forget. Aside from the incredible length of the day (breakfast at 8:30, bed sometime around 3a.m.), I had a slough of experiences that were memorable for their uniqueness and magnitude. I’ll try to bring it all to you here, but it will likely take multiple posts.
Friday started with a 4 cocktail breakfast hosted by Tres Generaciones at Brennan’s on Royal Street. Not being a tequila drinker, I was hesitant to go, but the food more than made up for any lack of drinks. Of course, the cocktails were great, but what else do you expect when Bobby G is making your eye-opener? The menu included a southern baked apple in heavy cream (which I’d walk over many, many people to get again), a duet of poached egg dishes, and a dessert of bananas foster, which I was unable to stay for because they started late and I had a can’t-miss session to get to.
Next, Dan and I headed over to the Cask Strength seminar. We weren’t sure what to expect, but we knew it’d be good. TotC isn’t known for letting people down, and this seminar was no exception. There is nothing that compares to tasting 12 high-proof liquors at 10:30 in the morning. I came to the realization that I’m maturing as a drinker: I actually tasted the products and set back half of the sample, rather than completely downing the offered quantities.
Then the day got exciting…but you’ll have to wait until I post more about that…
Day 2: part 2.
Posted by The Raven in Tales of the Cocktail on July 9, 2009
Alright, so I didn’t get the best night’s sleep, but I’m slowly recovering. I wanted to give y’all the rest of the story from yesterday. You’ll get the jalapeño shot later, but I did want to send a shout-out to the folks out at Ranch 616 in Austin, Texas for introducing this unique imbibation. (Woot! New word!) Anyone in the area should go check out the bar.
Moving right along, after this it was time for the Beefeater Welcome Reception. Dan, in all of his glory, neglected to secure a ticket, which meant I got to escort his lovely with Carine to the party. After last year’s soirée, I knew it was killing Dan that he couldn’t go, so I made sure to take pictures.
The bar set up at the Beefeater Reception.
Last year’s party was very good, so my expectations were high, and Desmond’s people did not disappoint. They even gave us all these really cool bowlers, which you can see if you look very closely at this picture:
The LOFT mistresses with a lovely model (who is a sophomore in college. I pay attention to these things...) Sorry you missed it, Dan.
I finished up at the reception and headed over to the Burlesque show, but it wasn’t for me and I split pretty quickly for the Mixo House with Craig of Dr. Bamboo. For those who aren’t here, this house is full of cocktail bloggers and has been well…sponsored. A screaming liver and too much good food prevented me from staying too long, but I hope to hop over there again before I leave NOLA.
I did run over to the TotC tweet-up arraigned by @livethelushlife before I collapsed for the night. I wish I could give some more info on the evening, but I was fried by then. I’m told it was a wonderful event, mostly by the hostess, but she’s got a trustworthy face, so I’ll recommend going to it again next year.
Gotta fly, more later.
Day 2: stumbling, but not fallen.
Posted by The Raven in Tales of the Cocktail on July 9, 2009
Yeehaw! Have I got stories for you.
Day one of Tales of the Cocktail is the Professional Series; the seminars are all geared towards proprietors of cocktalian establishments. As I am not one of these people, most of the seminars run a bit on the dry side. I went to the early seminar on starting a bar, where I did learn a fair amount on the trials of bar ownership, but after that I decided to stick to the tasting rooms and other events of the day. It was truly a day full of spectacle (which is my buzz word for the week, as in ‘the word I use a lot when I’m buzzed’).
To appreciate the atmosphere, I have to start at the beginning. I woke up at the unfortunate hour of 6a.m., with the intent of moving slow, showering leisurely, and breaking the nightly fast at a pace becoming of a proper gentleman who is staying at the French Quarter’s only 4-diamond hotel. I thankfully managed to achieve this schedule, and arrived down in the lobby about a half hour before Dan and Carine (whom I was meeting for the first time.) We ate breakfast at Le Cafe, the Monteleone’s enjoyable if slightly overpriced eatery. After breakfast we were off to register!
Registration was in a better place this year, actually warranting its own room, and the process was rather smooth. Somehow my name was missing from the media list, but the wonderful staff quickly fixed the problem and we were off to our next stop, the swag room. Now, it’s no secret that convention type events are full of swag, or that the swag gathered at Tales can be truly monumental, but this year they have outdone themselves. Rather than fill a bag with samples and gadgets from the various sponsors and distribute the bags to VIP’s (and oddly enough, us) they instead filled a room with swag and gave us empty bags to fill as our hearts desired. I have pictures, but for the interest of safety, I won’t post them until after Tales closes for the year.
There are a lot of things to love about Tales, and it goes beyond the swag. The Monteleone, built and adapted as it is, has many floors that are half stories up or down, which gives it an almost catacombed feel. Looking down a hallway, one find amazing hidden gems. Dan and I found one such gem in a hidden passage containing the good folks at Cointreau. After bluffing our way inside as members of the ‘press’, we watched a demonstration in which a molecular mixologist created little gel capsules of Cointreau. This process was absolutely fascinating, if painstakingly time-consuming, and the end result was truly amazing.
Hard to see, but cool up close.
This demonstration was put on by one Fernando Castellon, a man whom I expect none of you to know, but whom all of you should admire. Go ahead, admire from where ever you are currently. At this event, which was really more like a private party we crashed, we ran into a guy who, I’m not kidding, introduced himself as Ugly. He told me his real name, but insisted I call him Ugly. How could I resist? At one point he walked away from the demonstration, only to miss the best part, so when I saw him next, I called out “Hey Ugly!” Too fun…
The thing I really love about Tales of the Cocktail is that your glass is never, ever empty. I kid you not, I sat with my arm outstretched clutching a glass I’d just finished and turned my attention away a minute and no foolin’ someone appeared with a bottle to fill my glass.
I spent the early afternoon watching the live version of the Chef and the Fatman show. I can’t say much here except that these guys are really great people and quite fun to watch, and when you’re there live you get to taste what they cook up. They even shanghaied Dan, Carine, and me into doing some photography/videography for them, which was an absolute blast. During one of Dan’s many trips away from the booth to get a good shot, I was joined by Ted Breaux, head distiller for Lucid Absinthe. In one of the great moments of the day, he actually remembered who I was from the previous year. The best thing I can say is that good people deserve a fair shake, so if you’re in the market for absinthe, give Lucid a try.
Moving right along…I only need two words to get your attention my next tasting experience: jalapeño shots!
The Raven taking a hearty sup from a pepper.
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As it’s 1 in the morning, I can’t go into all the detail on these drinks, but I promise to follow up within the next month and show you how you too can contain your alcohol with vegetables.
Friends, I have to turn in. I may post again in the morning, or may just edit this post throughout the day tomorrow.
Caw!
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