Face Of New Orleans

Ok, reading the tracking information that UPS supplied me for a package I’m expecting led me to this line: “UPS, UPS brandmark, and the Color Brown are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.”  So lemme get this shit straight, UPS just called dibs on the color of dirt, tree trunks, and most everything that has existed before time……incredible.

If you didn’t have the foresight to attend Tales this year, you missed out on a whole mess of great stuff. Great people, great food, and most of all, great spirits. A number of companies are producing organic or all natural products which make for great beverages all around. One spirit, which I refer to as gin without the juniper, was mixed up nightly by The Fabulous Shaker Boys, and its name is VodkaHerb. It is a product that hails from the Netherlands and is crafted by Fedde Sonnema. It is a very light blend of herbs that comes off mildly grassy on the nose, but honestly, should not be called vodka. Even though the flavor isn’t overpowering, it still brings a lot to the table.

Being that its about 10 billion degrees outside, I felt that a long drink was in order:

Dew Of The Sea

2 oz of VodkaHerb

1/2 oz of fresh lime juice

1/4 oz of Jim Beam Rye Whiskey

1 spearmint leaf

1/4 tsp of amber (dark) agave nectar

1 1/2 oz of tonic water (I used Whole Foods brand)

Add all but the tonic water to mixing glass/tin, shake and strain into a collins glass filled with cracked ice. Top with 1 1/2 oz of tonic water, stir gently. Finally, garnish with the top of a rosemary sprig.

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

Well, you may have thought I was done for the evening (as I did), but the bottles started speaking to me as I sauntered by. I don’t have a story that accompanies this drink, other than it was sent to me through the ether……which is enough for me.

 

I give you the

Phoenix

2 oz of Diabolique Bourbon

1/2 oz of Heering Cherry

1/4 oz of Vya Dry Vermouth

1/8 oz of Fonseca Bin No. 27 Port

1 dash of Regan’s Orange Bitters

Stir with generous amounts of large, fresh ice for approximately 40 seconds. Strain into a cocktail glass and flame an orange peel over the drink. Bend the peel slightly and float on top as shown.

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

Hey kids, turns out that I actually had the images on my posts using a thumbnail of a pre-shrunk image.  Yes, I know, I’m a tard.  But now y’all can see them for all their glory on the front page.  So enjoy.

Odd, complicated, and delicious. All three of those adjectives describe a product from Crop Vodka. It’s not what you would expect though: it’s tomato flavored. The wonderful thing about it is that it’s not gimmicky flavored, it’s actually USDA organic. On the nose, tomato really rings out, smelling like V8 minus 7. I was also really pleased when I tasted it, because it is hands down one of the smoothest grain spirits I have tasted to date. Let me be the first to tell you that their statement, “This organic tomato flavored vodka is distilled so efficiently from certified Organic grain that no carbon treatment or charcoal filtering is required,” is absolutely spot on. I’m not sure what magic the distillers at Crop weave, but I’d love to have the spell. I could go on for a while telling you what it tastes like or what it reminds me of, but let’s be honest, you really have to try something tomato flavored for yourself.

I wanted to create something quite different to really complement the flavor of this spirit, so here is

The Compass

3 grams of fresh cut organic onion

1 1/2 oz of Crop Organic Tomato Vodka

2 organic peppermint leaves

1/2 oz of homemade organic simple syrup

Shake gently at first (almost rocking) and finish with a few hard shakes. Then fine strain into a pre-chilled cocktail glass and float one peppermint leaf on top (after rubbing or clapping it).

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

P.S. Crop has also crafted a straight grain vodka and a cucumber one as well. More news on those later.

Alright childrens, gather ’round, cause its story time. Once upon a time people went to this mystical land called New Orleans…….and I forgot the rest, because I DRANK IT. Man, Tales was amazing. When we arrived, I noted one thing: its like a D&D convention for drunks. So many wonderful nerds all in one place at one time. The most challenging part about the whole ordeal though, was, have you ever gone to school drunk? Remember how hard it was to maintain throughout the day, just wishing that lunch was coming sooner? Well, Tales was no different. We were served delicious drinks all throughout the day and night, but we actually had to maintain a high level of intellectualism at the same time. I mean EXHAUSTING. I do have to say though, it was hands down, the best time I’ve ever had in my life. For those of you playing the home game, the picture I’ve included is one of many, this one being from a party at Loa at the International House Hotel. A really neat thing occurred to all of us that evening, two thirds of the attendees were bartenders. Unreal. There are plenty of other photos in the gallery. Have a look-see and catch up on what you may have missed or just reminisce.

I do have to say, the only thing that could have made Tales even better was if O’Flaherty’s was open again….a man can dream.

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

Exhausted and grimy, a cream colored label flashed in front of my eyes. In the lobby of the Hotel Monteleone, a gentleman by the name of Brandon Bach was kind enough to give me a bottle of something I had never seen before. He didn’t tell me much about it other than it was bourbon…he didn’t have to. After opening the bottle and allowing my nose to grab a waft I was wrapped up by more things than I could count. The only words I could manage to get out were, “thank you so much.” After meeting up with Brandon later that evening at the bartender’s breakfast “by chance,” I explained what I do and he encouraged me to try all of their spirits, which include not only bourbon, but also rum and tequila. These aren’t just regular base spirits though, folks. The bourbon is infused with figs, cinnamon, and vanilla bean. Their Virgin Island rum is married with lemon peel, orange, and ginger. Finally, their tequila is blended with mango, lime, and Hawaiian pineapple. You can check out their website at http://www.infusionique.com and/or shoot Brandon an email at brandon@infusionique.com (tell him I sent ya).

Of course, I made a little ditty to go along with the bourbon, that goes a little something like this:

Satan’s Mediator

2 oz of Diabolique Bourbon

1/4 oz of Marie Brizard Apry

1/4 oz of Tia Maria

2 dashes of Regan’s Orange Bitters

1/2 oz of fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp of amber honey (dark)

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with 3 warmed coffee beans.

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.