"Tales of the cocktail" news and stories

This year marked the 8th year of New Orleans' Tales of the Cocktail -- a sort of bartender sleep-away camp complete with classes, swim time, and sneakin' into places that will not make your mom proud. With hundreds of bartenders, journalists, bloggers, and cocktail enthusiasts in attendance, Tales is a marketing extravaganza. Many spirits companies take advantage of the week, holding cocktail competitions, since they have a ready-made large audience already gathered.

Everything from wine to whiskey wanted to be in the newest cocktail creation - Yellow Tail wine, got in on the cocktail competition whirlwind by sponsoring an event, Catdaddy Mountain Moonshine organized a Bar Chef Challenge. This competition title made me laugh, pairing the high-brow title "bar chef" with a commercial bottle calling itself moonshine.

The United States Bartenders Guild (USBG) hosted a margarita competition sponsored by Milagro tequila. Fifteen bartenders from different cities competed. Abigail Gullo, from NYC, may not have been the judges' number one pick, but her lavender margarita won the approval of the crowds for the People's Choice trophy.

Recipes from the winners after the jump...

Seattle bartender Evan Martin won $1,250 with his tiki punch that a group of four judges declared as the official cocktail of this year's Tales of the Cocktail July 21-25 event in New Orleans. Over 150 drink recipes were submitted. Who knows whether all 150 recipes were actually created and tasted as often times with these types of competitions a few eye-catching recipes are culled from submissions to make the competition a little easier on the judges.

Judge Jeff "Beachbum" Berry admitted judging so many drinks wasn't easy, saying, "Often it came down to the originality of the garnish..."


The winner dressed itself with a garnish that looked like a guy hanging off of the drink with a cherry head, pineapple leaf arms and citrus peel dangling legs.

By the time you assemble all these ingredients you may want to spear yourself as a garnish.

Find the winning Tales of the Cocktail recipe after the jump...

Irish coffee. Photo: LeNell Smothers

Alabama-born LeNell Smothers defines herself first and foremost as a bartender, but she's been called many things -- most recently, the proprietress of LeNell's liquor store. She's owned her own whiskey label called Red Hook Rye and has been recognized by her home state as an honorary Colonel. Other interests include gin, sin and men.

Whiskey and wine consume me as well as I them, but coffee must have captured my heart. Unfortunately, my household move from New York City to Mexico has been held up by the restoration of my antique Faema "Urania" espresso machine. Thank the java gods who inspire rare folks such as the Italian gents at Omnipak Imports in New York to work their magic and lovingly bring back to life such old monster machines. How can I ever serve guests at Casa Cóctel with my dignity intact without a proper machine to make lovely coffee drinks? Coffee is just yet another ingredient in the cocktail pantry.

Sean Muldoon is the mastermind behind the award-winning bar menu of the Merchant Hotel in Belfast. When I say award-winning, I mean they took the 2009 Tales of the Cocktail Spirit Awards by storm, with World's Best Drink Selection, World's Best Hotel Bar and World's Best Cocktail Menu. I had my best ever Irish Coffee in this gorgeous historic bar with the sweetheart, Mr. Muldoon, as my host.

New York City isn't about to forget its cocktail roots.

The wild popularity of New Orleans' Tales of the Cocktail has prompted imbibing New Yorkers to get into the cocktail conference game. Enter the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, which held a preview session over the weekend in anticipation of a full-blown, five-day cocktail conference next May 14-18. Lucky attendees to the preview seminars were taught cocktail lessons from behind the bar at swank locales throughout the city.

The cap to the weekend was a wild party at the main branch of the New York Public Library on Oct. 4, complete with a Prohibition-style "Free Lunch," cocktails from more than two dozen bartenders and a live band that made the place jump in "Great Gatsby"-like fashion. Check out Slashfood's photos after the jump.

Well another Tales of the Cocktail has come and gone, and Slashfood made it through relatively unscathed. New Orleans was filled with the world's best bartenders who met to tipple together and share a bit of their mixology wisdom for throngs of (slightly tipsy) fans during the five-day bacchanal.

James Meehan of New York's PDT was named American Bartender of the Year on July 11, while "Imbibe!" author David Wondrich got a nod for his cocktail writing and Dale DeGroff for his latest book offering, "The Essential Cocktail."

Get our favorite moments and more photos after the jump.