Drinking The World

Tuesday was a long day at the beginning of Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. I was up at 4am, taxi picked me up at 5am, at the airport by 5:30, and in the air soon after. I won't discuss the flights except to say that I hate flying. I am too tall for the seats and my shoulders too wide.

Thankfully I was at my hotel, the Renaissance Pere Marquette by 1pm Central Time, and at the Carousel bar at the Hotel Monteleone by 2pm. I started running into friends and acquaintances as soon as I stepped on the shuttle bus at the airport. Then at the Monteleone the first folks I ran into were Ann Tuennerman and Jenny Adams. Ann and I met last year, Jenny I know through Facebook. It's fun meeting in person folks who you only know through the internet.

For the next few hours I sat at the Carousel Bar or walked around re-connecting with old friends and chatting with the new. Somewhere in there I ran into Jason Kosmas of Macao Trading Co. in NYC and his friend and consulting partner, Danae Richardson Cereceres. We grabbed lunch at Acme Oyster House with them having the "Peacemaker" poboy sandwiches (fried oysters and crawfish), and I had the Seafood gumbo (crab and crawfish.) Jason had told me a few months ago that he was moving to Texas, and so he is. His wife has already moved there and he follows Aug. 1st. I'll miss seeing him at Macao and Employees Only in NYC, since I always stop by to sample his fantastic south-east Asian influenced cocktails.

Follow up:

6pm and I was at MS Rau Antiques where the Second Annual Collaborative Cocktail Bloggers Reception was held. cocktail and spirits bloggers from around the world gathered to catch up, meet for the first time, eat tasty treats, and sip fine cocktails. Martin Miller Gin was the sponsor, and Martin Miller himself was on hand. I spent a good twenty minutes chatting with him about distilling, gin development, etc. until the tales photographer hurriedly grabbed him for photo opps. I have to say that while I know she is just doing her job, everyone felt a bit put out about how disruptive she was. It was a topic of conversation off and on all night. Not only there, but events that followed. As a photographer myself I know that it is a hard line to walk to get the shots, without interfering. One of the main purposes of this reception was for everybody to get together to gossip. Hey, we're writers, right? How else can you share info?

I had a nice time catching up with my friend Sonja Kassebaum, fellow cocktail writer, and owner with her husband, of North Shore Distillery in Chicago where they make some of the best gin, absinthe, and aquavit available in the US. We joined a few other friends and had dinner at Mr. B's Bistro, part of the Brennan Family restaurants. Between us we had several types of gumbo, crab cakes (which were the richest. most buttery crab cakes I ever had, mostly chunks of meat, with just the smallest amount of binder to hold it together. It was like crab cake beurre blanc.), rabbit, and fresh salads of Creole tomatoes, Vidalia onions, and more. Before dinner I had a Pimms Cup because I felt like something refreshing to stimulate my appetite, but it was a very poor example, tasting like Sprite with the tiniest splash of Pimm's Cup No. 1. But I was in way to strong a state of exhaustion by this time to send it back.

From there we headed in different directions. Sonja and I to the Benedictine liqueur event. We walk in to Latrobe's and are confronted with the staff all dressed like Benedictine monks in long brown cowls with most of their faces hidden. It was a fun effect, and I thought it would have been even more fun if the cowled robes had been handed out to everyone. We walked around the party to the sounds of Gregorian chant dance re-mix. It was very strange, but in a good way. We sipped on the three cocktails that were served, then lined up to get our goblets. You had to pick a card blindly and then receive the appropriate cup. Peasant, with a wood cup, Brother with a tall red glass goblet, Knight with a small silver (stainless steel) goblet, or Nobility with an enormous green glass chalice. The silver cup was the nicest looking and Sonja was gifted one of those as a Knight. I was of course granted Nobility and the enormous goblet of green. So large that I can put my fist in it with room to spare. I poured 4 glasses of water into it when I got back to my room so I guesstimate it holds way more than a quart. we then proceeded to get our goblets filled with a very nice benedictine Punch, flavored with tangerine and other citrus, and various herbs. Garnished with fresh thyme that sat right under my nose as I thrust my face into the glass to drink.

After wandering around chatting with old friends and making new ones I realized I was completely drained. I went back to the hotel and cooled off for awhile. Grabbed an luke-cool shower, and headed back out again. A few more bars and parties, and I was finally so exhausted that I practically crawled back to my hotel where I slept fitfully for a few hours. I was actually so exhausted that sleep didn't come easy.