Drinking The World

For those of you who don't know, USBG stands for the US Bartenders Guild, the NY means the NY chapter, of which I have been a avid participant of for the past 18 months. Even when I was living up in Maine I attended as many of the NYC events as possible, and almost every one since I moved back here last September. I haven't written about any of them, but I think I will have to start.

Around 20 bartenders, mixologists, and one distiller, me, were treated to a day trip to visit Long Island Spirits, the distillers of LIV Vodka, and several fruit liqueurs. We were taken by luxury bus from NYC out to the east end of Long Island and treated to a day of food, beverages, a tour, a cocktail competition, and more. LIV Vodka is a very good product. I'm not a vodka fan, but this is an artisanal vodka crafted with care, from potatoes grown right outside the distillery. They also treated us very well, and gave a very instructive tour of the distillery, for many it was there first time and they learned a lot.

A new bartender friend of mine who I met yesterday posted on Facebook while we were on a bus ride to visit the distillery the following, "Long Island Distillery Tour with some crazy mixologists ohhh its gonna be a rough Monday..."

Follow up:

I came back with the following comment: "Monday was fine... it was the wee hours of Tuesday when things got tough. Let's see... drinking beers on the bus to the distillery at 9:30am, then we get there and they hand us bottles of vodka and liqueurs, gallons of fresh made lemonade, more beers, and it's over 90 degrees out in the bright sunshine. Then a tour of the distillery where we get shots of 160 proof brandy straight from the barrel and 180 proof white dog. Then they stuff our faces with all kinds of great summer food. Clams in butter and garlic with fresh bread to soak it up, chicken, ribs, burgers n dogs, salads, and more and more beer and vodka. Then the cigars come out and more beer and vodka. Then the cocktail competition. (My three berry cocktail explodes out of the mismatched shaker and drenches me, good thing I was wearing a shirt the same color as the bright red/purple cocktail.) Then everyone samples all 8 or 9 cocktails. Then mini-cupcakes made with liqueurs in the frosting and cake, and more beer and vodka. Then as we get on the bus they pack up the beer, vodka, and liqueurs, as well as all the food, and make us take it with us. We then try to finish everything on the ride back to the city. Then everyone decides to to start a bar crawl. The group of wasted mixologists, bartenders, and one distiller (namely me) are spread over several blocks as we try to hand off the last of the food to people on the street and try and get them to help us kill a bottle of Yellow Chartreuse as we head to the first bar. Several bars later we end up at a whiskey tasting tossing back Russel's Reserve, neat. I just barely wobble out and catch a taxi and make the last train out to the burbs. We lost you at some point I think..."

This is a typical USBGNY event. A fantastic day, night, and some really embarrassing stories to tell. I won't share any of those fun little secrets, but they tend to involve people drinking, eating, laughing, talking too loudly, invading friends bars, madcap walks and taxi rides through the city, losing people along the way and gaining others, making new friends, trying new bars and restaurants, falling asleep in weird places, partial nudity, friendly flirting, much ribaldry, and a rollicking good time. It's all about a group of professionals in the bar and spirits industry combining learning new things, with letting down their hair and enjoying themselves. Oh, and did I mention the beer and booze and food and flirting?