Tales Tattles Day 3: "If by Whiskey"

So now we're getting into the swing of things...I had done a little spirits training on Tues. nite at PDT in NY, and we now have two more days of drinking beginning at breakfast when it dawned on me. How come in the wine biz there are spit buckets all over the place and nobody swallows, but in the spirits bidness there are none to be found? The people I asked said because the spirits folks are more fun...I wonder if that is a cause or effect?

We attended a fun seminar run by Charlotte Voisey of Hendrick's where they did readings of cocktail references in literature, from Kafka's Metamorphosis (in full cockroach costume no less!) to my favorite, "If by Whiskey" which I'll paste at the end of this post. I had used it as an intro to some presentations I used to make in my days of legit work at Heublein.

And while I was laughing at the lit references and tidying up the ppt for my presentation in the next half hour when BOOM, my computer froze! Luckily we were able to retrieve the file through the efforts of the always reliable Anthony King back at the home office.


A Sold-Out SRO Crowd!

The session I participated in was on using Blogs.
It was moderated by the newly hirsute Paul Clarke of Cocktail Chronicles
and Serious Eats and originally planned to have Jeffrey Morgenthaler as well, but he had to bail at the last minute for some paying client responsibilities. Bobby Heugel of Drink Dogma was kind enough to fill Jeff's rather large shoes and gave us some really good insights from the other side of stick. Lindsey Johnson and Leo Borowskiy of Lush Life NY were doing live video streaming of the session.




We skipped dinner that night and moseyed on over to the W Hotel, site of the On the Fly Competition (more like the running of the bulls in Pamplona) ostensibly run by Jeffrey Morgenthaler, but it seemed to me like it was run by the inmates of the TOTC asylum. We saw Chantal, bartendress extraordinaire from Vessel in Seattle there, and then later again that night at Napolean House, and she was also at Herbsaint...was she following me?

Then off to Pat O'Brien's on the river for the Leblon affair...some 20 stations manned by the USBG superstars each with their own cocktail concept. I liked the one with candied hibiscus flowers best. Steve Luttman and Jamie Keller had the crowd well in hand aided by a bouncer at the door brandishing a giant stick of sugar cane at misbehaving revelers.

My mission on this trip was to have a Sazerac at Napolean House which for some reason was never open when I went by last year. We finally lucked out (maybe they didn't know I was planning on coming) and I chowed down on a half Muffalatta while Sam made do with soup, salad and a Pimm's Cup.

And so to bed.




If By Whiskey

Noah S. "Soggy" Sweat, Jr., to the Mississippi House, April 4, 1952.
(Don't ya just love the guy's name! Perfect for Mississippi and New Orleans in July)
I’ll take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it may be. You have asked me how I feel about whisky; well Brother, here’s where I stand:

If by whisky, you mean the Devil’s brew the Poison scourge, the bloody monster that defies innocence, dethrones reason, creates misery and poverty, yea literally takes the break out of the mouths of babes; if you mean the Evil Drink that topples men and women from the pinnacles of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of despair, degradation, shame, helplessness and hopelessness---then I am certainly against it with all my power.

But if by whisky, you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine and ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts, laughter on their lips and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean that sterling drink that puts the spring in an old man’s steps on a frosty morning; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasury untold millions of dollars which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our pitifully aged and infirm and to build our highways, hospitals and schools—then Brother, I am for it. This is my stand. Sphere: Related Content

Tattles from Tales, Day 2

Thursday started out promising and we were sauntering off to the Royal Sonesta for breakfast with Camper English of Alcademics(who was nominated for best cocktail writer, but unfortunately didn't win)when we heard some honking and looked up to see a "honey wagon" spewing a fire-hydrant-at-full-blast volume of raw sewage onto the street and sidewalk. Luckily we didn't get hit, but when the stench hit us, Sam almost gagged, and we had serious doubts about being able to make it through the miasma to the hotel. We did persevere and so now "eau de New Orleans" is forever etched in our brainstems, right next to the smell of the first overdose of Tequila...blaawwwwwghhhhh!

We had some really good idea sharing with Camper on how we can help bloggers and particularly find ways to monetize their sites.

Lunch at Herbsaint on St. Charles was with Gabriel "Cocktail Nerd" and Joanna Szazko and Rick Stutz of Kaiser Penguin, board members of the OCSWG --they've GOT to come up with a better name--continuing the convo on how marketers and bloggers can work together for mutual benefit. (We've got lots of good ideas, but you'll have to hire us if you want me to share them.) The food was spectacular and we went on a streetcar ride
through the garden district for a real sense of the best New Orleans has to offer in terms of ambience and architecture. We were hot and sweaty, but according to the locals, only about 95, "but you should have been here last week...over 100...now THAT's hot!")

We got back too late to make the Leblon event, but I did sign the Declaration of Independence that Steve Luttman was carrying around to get the law changed to make Cachaca a legal category in the U.S.

We had dinner at Arnaud's, a sentimental site for me in N'awlins because it was my Dad's favorite and I had always hoped I'd be able to share dinner with him there, but it was not to be. Anyway, we had a fabulous time with Cheri Loughlin of Intoxicologist and her significant other Tory over crawfish and Cordon Rouge. We gave Cheri some ideas on site metrics and learned a lot about her blog.

Then it was back to the Monteleone for cocktails with Bob DeKuyper (yes, THAT DeKuyper...something like 8th generation and this pick was taken Tues of that week at PDT which went on to win the Best Cocktail Bar in America)Ivan Menting and Albert deHeer. Darcy O'Neil of Art of Drink joined us for a drink and he and I wandered back to the other theme subject of the event...is fructose (as in HFCS) pronounced "Fruck" or "Frook". The conversation was so boring that even our blogger friends turned their backs on us. Yikes, I just realized I'm a geek!

And so to bed. (and for those of you who get the reference to Samuel Pepys, you'd enjoy the comment that one of the seminar speakers was talking about "Peepies" diary. My mom kept one of those but now I'm potty trained.)

G'night y'all! Sphere: Related Content

Leblon!

We're pleased to announce that we've just been retained by Leblon Cachaça to work on Trade Marketing and Social Media Marketing. We're absolutely thrilled to be working with Steve Luttman, Gerry Schweitzer, Jaime Keller, Matthew Engle and the rest of their team on this category leading product. I could say some great things about them, but perhaps the best is a simple one..."they get it." And it will be great to work with people who are on the cutting edge of spirits marketing as BAT is practicing it.

As many of you know, Leblon has been doing the heavy lifting driving the creation of the category in the U.S. so while the category is still small, it's growing rapidly and starting to attract other players, which is a good thing...a rising tide and all that. And for many of our friends in the cocktail blogosphere, it's a brand and category of great interest...it's new, it's fresh, it has a spectacular signature drink (caipirinha), but also inspires creativity beyond that drink because of its flavor, complexity and heritage.

Here's a fact you may not know...Cachaça is the third most consumed spirit in the world. And since most of it is consumed in Brazil and some in Germany...you get a sense for the Brazilian market...and the potential for the U.S.

So, thanks to the folks at Leblon for for picking BAT. We look forward to a spectacular collaboration. Sphere: Related Content