Alcademics.com

Alternative Tales Talks

Tales of the Cocktail is an annual convention in New Orleans for bartenders and drink nerds. There are seminars and panels on various drink topics (all with drinks served) that are proposed and given by industry notables.

A month or two ago I was talking about panel ideas with a small group of jive turkeys who would be submitting proposals for next year's Tales, including David Wondrich, the most popular drink nerd of all. People like him and Dale DeGroff and Tony Abou-Ganim are such superstars in the industry that I proposed they should get paid just to show up and party, rather than having to prepare lectures and make PowerPoint slides like normal people.

They could get sponsors to reserve a seat for them in the bar and just hang out. And when someone asked what they were drinking, they would say, "A Manhattan made with fine Sazerac rye whiskey!" (or whatever) and then everyone would be happy. I think it's a brilliant idea, but then again I think all my ideas are great.

Bad times, good whisky

In what is likely the first of hundreds of stories on discount drinking during the depression, Eric Felten writes a review of bargain blended scotch whiskies.

His top pics: Teacher's Highland Cream and Ballantine's Finest.

Say it ain't so!

Zima is going to be retired.

This is a sad, sad day for America. The most wonderful of malternative beverages, the wine cooler of the nineties, Zima, will be no more.

I had a particularly messy and public love for Zima in the early 1990's right after college. In fact, Zima was there for me when I received my physics GRE scores in the mail and realized I wasn't going to get into grad school anywhere I had already applied. What a night that was! I think several people have an image of me crawling across the dancefloor of the Axis nightclub permanently seared into their retinas. Poor fools.

While it may have it may have taken 15 years for Zima- and it's upscale sister, Zima Gold- to leave the market, for me, this delicious malt beverage will always be associated with FAIL.

SF Event: Beattie Book Launch

If you live in SF and are planning on buying Scott Beattie's book, the time and place to do it is November 3 at Cantina. Hopefully the drinks served will be ones from the book, as Beattie cranks out some seriously delicious cocktails.

Artisanal Cocktails: Drinks Inspired by the Seasons from the Bar at Cyrus
by Scott Beattie
$40 admission, includes cocktails and an autographed copy of the book
Monday, November 3rd, 6 - 10pm
Cantina
580 Sutter Street

for more information, please visit:

http://scottbeattiecocktails.com/

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/03/WI6S1385C0.DTL

More Cachaca Recipes

I think the cachaca category is too tied to the Caipirinha, but I probably think that because the Caipirinha is a lousy drink. There I said it.

But I love cacacha and am always thrilled to see something other than the Caipirinha made with it on drink menus. Coming to my rescue is Naren Young, a New York-based writer/bartender. He wrote this little ditty on the Top Five Cachaca Cocktails.

Included in the list is the Caipirinha de Uva, a drink I've had and loved several times in different places. There is also the Pearl Button by John Deragon, which sounds easy and delightful, and a version of the Bloody Mary called the Bloody Carioca. I had a different version of a cachaca based Bloody Mary, which sounds disgusting- and I loved it.

I just wanted to draw your attention to these other options because I'm so very glad to have them myself.

Icefusions

Gourmet.com has a story about a bartender making ice infused with herbs and spices like dried cherry, cardamom, and clove, which open up in cocktails and add new flavors to the drink as they melt.

I've had ice made from coconut water and bitters-infused ice before, but this is a new idea to me. Think of the possibilities!

No seriously, bartenders- go think of the possibilities and I'll be happy to sample your experiments.

Alcademics, now with actual links!

I finally created a links page. The permanent links page is here, but I wanted to finally recognize people whose blogs I read. See note below if you don't see your site here.

Bartenders Who Blog:

• Listen to the Ice
• H Ehrmann
• Neyah White
• Jeffrey Morgenthaler
• Jimmy Patrick
• Jonny Raglin
• LUPEC Boston
• Jamie Boudreau
• Bourbon & Branch
• Beaker & Flask
• Lance Mayhew
• United States Bartenders Guild

Drink Nerds:

• A Dash of Bitters
• Bunnyhugs
• Cocktail Nerd
• DC Drinks
• Dr. Bamboo
• Drink Boston
• Drink Boy
• Drinks Are On Me
• Infusions of Grandeur
• Intoxicated Zodiac
• Kaiser Penguin
• Gumbo Pages
• Moving at the Speed of Life
• Off the Presses
• Oh Gosh!
• Scottes' Rum Pages
• Sloshed
• The Art of Drink
• The Wild Drink Blog
• Trader Tiki
• Underhill Lounge
• A Mountain of Crushed Ice
• An Exercise in Hospitality
• Blotto
• Cocktail Virgin/Slut
• Drink Hacker
• Drink Planner
• Le Mixeur
• Looka!
• Rowley's Whiskey Forge
• RumDood
• Save the Drinkers
• Scofflaw's Den
• Standards and Pours
• The Mixoloseum
• Thinking of Drinking
• Tiki Drinks and Indigo Firmaments
• Soused
• Whisky Bros.
• Cocktail Buzz

Cocktail General Interest or Multi-Author:

• About.com Cocktails
• Days That End in Y
• Drink of the Week
• Gizmodo: Drinking
• Liquor Snob
• Martini Groove
• The Liquid Muse
• Museum of the American Cocktail
• The Spirit World
• YumSugar
• Drinks After Dark
• Glam Dish
• Good Spirit News
• Liquirius
• Loungerati
• Lush Life
• Spirits Beat

Authors and Superstars

• Beachbum Berry
• Wayne Curtis

Food (and Drink) Freaks

• Becks and Posh
• Eater SF
• Hedonia
• Married with Dinner
• Matt Bites
• Cooking with Amy

Beerish/Wineish/Champagneish/Non-alcoholic

• Bottle Watch
• Fermentarium
• Get Bubbly
• Hip Tastes
• Kegworks
• Lyke to Drink
• Cork Dork
• Knowledge for Thirst
• Vinography
• Spume

Magazines and Newspapers

• Complex
• Imbibe
• Food & Wine
• The Pour (NYT)
• Esquire
• Luxury Insider
• Men's Vogue
• NY Mag Nightlife
• The Cellarist (SF Chronicle)
• Buzzed (7X7 Mag)

Industry Stuff

• Just Drinks
• Drinks Business Review
• Drinks Media Wire
• iSante
• On the House
• Wine and Spirits Daily
• BevLaw Blog
• Nightclub Blog

Journalists

• Dowd's Spirit Notebook
• Paul Clarke
• Dowd on Drinks
• The Imbiber
• Rebecca Chapa
• Lew Bryson

Brands

• Talk Drinks (Partida)
• Drink Unique (VeeV)
• Pacific Distillery
• The Unusual Times (Hendrick's)

Single-Subject Blogs

• What Does John Know?
• Whisky Grotto
• Bourbon Blog
• Cachacagora
• Rum Pundit

So far, these are just the blogs. I may link to static websites in the future, but this is a lot of work!

Think I forgot you or want a link? Drop me a line and introduce yourself. I only link on this page to blogs I read in the beer/wine/cocktails arena.

An analysis of beverage preference in females

According to this video, different types of women prefer different alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. The proper host prepares for all types of guests. 

(Language is likely NSFW. Link via WOWReport)