Mostly a photo update today, as I think the pictures speak for themselves and I didn’t bother taking notes at the spa or while eating dinner. Call me crazy. The car arrived early this morning to pick us up and take us to Heathrow Airport for Iceland. After an unfortunate hour spent on the runway, | Read More

Today was a very different day than yesterday. Very different. Yesterday was all about a glamourous cocktail competition, an exquisite dinner in a private salon, and an exclusive tour of some of London’s most luxurious bars. Today was about a wretched hangover, six hours spent in a cramped Peugeot with three other people, driving in | Read More

UK/Iceland Martin Miller’s Gin has graciously brought me to London and Iceland for a week of gin education, touring, and merriment at some of the finest bars in the world. While I can’t bring each and every one of you with me, I’ll be sharing everything I learn here with you over the next week. | Read More

UK/Iceland Martin Miller’s Gin has graciously brought me to London and Iceland for a week of gin education, touring, and merriment at some of the finest bars in the world. While I can’t bring each and every one of you with me, I’ll be sharing everything I learn here with you over the next week. | Read More

UK/Iceland Martin Miller’s Gin has graciously brought me to London and Iceland for a week of gin education, touring, and merriment at some of the finest bars in the world. While I can’t bring each and every one of you with me, I’ll be sharing everything I learn here with you over the next week. | Read More

UK/Iceland Martin Miller’s Gin has graciously brought me to London and Iceland for a week of gin education, touring, and merriment at some of the finest bars in the world. While I can’t bring each and every one of you with me, I’ll be sharing everything I learn here with you over the next week. | Read More

Right now I’m packing my bags and making last-minute preparations for a very special trip. Martin Miller’s Gin has graciously offered to fly me to London and Iceland for a week of gin education, touring, cocktail judging, and the possibility of merriment at some of the finest bars and restaurants in the world. Being a | Read More

If you’re ever wandering aimlessly around Portland on a Friday morning, it’s always a good idea to stop by the cocktail books section at Powell’s. You never know what you might find.

We’re fortunate to have some great minds in absinthe here in the Pacific Northwest, and on Sunday a few of them came together to share their extensive knowledge with the attendees of the Great American Distiller’s Festival in a panel titled “Q&A on Northwest Absinthe” The panel featured Gwydion Stone, founder of the educational organization | Read More

The Great American Distiller’s Festival was this past weekend, and I was there on Sunday to witness some of the action with my crusty sidekick, Scott. The first event was a seminar titled “The History of the Cocktail“, led by Robert Hess. Robert jumped right in there with a crash course on spirits, theories about | Read More

Last year, I had the tremendous fortune to stumble upon the Great American Distiller’s Festival in Portland and meet up with some really excellent Portland-area bartenders. That afternoon in August, coming together with so many talented individuals that I hardly knew existed prior to that day, laid the foundation for the Oregon Bartenders Guild. So | Read More

For those of you not in-the-know, I’ll be heading to Berlin at the end of September to give a presentation at the BCB (Berlin Bar Conference). It’s an annual event put on by Mixology Magazine, which I’ve been contributing to for several months now. Anyway, I’ll be delivering my presentation on the topic of “The | Read More

I don’t know how food writers do it. Talking with Andrew tonight, he told us about their last-minute pairing dinners and the challenges of putting together an article the night before the Washington Post’s due date. And so here I am, trying to write a simple blog post after six courses, complete with wine pairings | Read More

I spent the week leading up to Tales of the Cocktail revisiting the Vieux Carré cocktail, which was created at the Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone by bartender Walter Bergeron in 1938. I tried several of the recipe variations out there on unsuspecting customers all week long, perfecting the Vieux Carré before getting on | Read More

What to drink with What you Eat …are coming to Eugene! The authors of one of my favorite books (and many others) are going to be in town for a very special pairing dinner at one of my favorite restaurants (and previous employer: hi, guys!). I just made my reservation after receiving this in my | Read More