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

Since I was deep in the thick of competition and couldn’t take notes, I enlisted the services of Portland, Oregon food writer Ms. Lizzy Caston. Following is her report. What does a group of creative bartenders do with bags full of promotional alcohol samples, mixers and condiments? Hold a contest to determine who can make | Read More

I’m calling this “Day Zero” since the events don’t officially start until tomorrow. Although, you’d never know it by the sheer quantity of cocktail luminaries amassed in the French Quarter right now. My day started with an internal miscommunication about the actual date of my departure (that’s what I get for booking the trip three | Read More

To Tales of the Cocktail, that is. You see, after last year’s debacle there was no way I was going to miss this one. In fact, I was so excited about going that I somehow showed up to the airport a day early, embarrassed as heck and thanking the nice young lady up and down | Read More

Thanks to the recommendation of some good friends this weekend, I’ve added Twitter to my list of preferred web applications. Their sage advice couldn’t have come at a better time: I’ve been busy readying myself for Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans next week, and have been concerned about how I’ll connect with everyone | Read More