Alcademics.com

Sleeves are IN this Season with Moet-Hennessy

Sleeves! Sleeves! Sleeves! Everything in sleeves! 

Moet-Hennessy found the hot new look of the season by putting sleeves on all their products.

Perhaps they were inspired by the champagnes they put in sleeves a few seasons ago, like this attractive ice jacket for Veuve-Clicquot.  Sassy!

 

Then they did the same thing with flasks of Hennessy V.S. just this year.

So fresh!  SO funky!

Thinking ahead for fall, they knew it would get chilly, and said,  "SLEEVES FOR EVERYONE. EVERYONE GETS A SLEEVE!"

So they did one for Chopin vodka. It's the puffy jacket for potato vodka. FABULOUS.

My First Wine Fraud Email

Hooray! Fishing comes to the world of wine and spirits.

I got this email the other day. It's obvious fishing/wire fund/money order spam to me, but might not be if you happen to sell wine in Texas. Be on the lookout, and God Bless America

Gerrard Silver <salest106@copper.net>

reply-to    salest9@gmail.com

to    salest9@gmail.com

date    Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 9:06 PM

subject    Thailand Wine Inquiry !!!!

hide details 9:06 PM (13 hours ago)

Hello,

    My name is Gerrard Silver , an American .I live and work here in Thailand . Actually when I was home last time in Texas, I got a bottle of one of your wines from a friend as a birthday gift and I love the taste Since then , I have been planning on getting your wines for my wedding coming up soon, here in Thailand ,I got your contact through your website and I want to know if you will be able to supply me some cases of those wines.I will be making my payment via my American issued Visa & Master card .  

    I am registered with a shipping agency in USA, which has other representatives in USA .So you are not to get the wines shipped but the wines will be picked up at your location by this licensed shipping agency. The shipping agency have all the appropriate exportation documents and permits papers, Therefore concerning the shipping of the wines , I will refer you to this shipping company that will come for the pick up of the wines in your location once I have made my payment .They have got items shipped to me here twice without any delay .

You can also forward me the list of Wine Vintages you have available.

Kindly get back to me so that I can make my orders.

Warm and Best Regards

God Bless America

Gerrard Silver

How to Be Interviewed- Slides from my Talk

On July 21, 2010 I gave a talk at Tales of the Cocktail on How to be Interviewed for Print, Radio, and Television. I covered the print part and Jennifer English (no relation) covered radio and TV. 

The description of the seminar is here. 

Several people asked that I share the slides from the talk, so I've added them to Scribd website. The slides are viewable here. 

And if you happen to be in the conference planning business, please note that I am available to speak on being interviewed, getting press for your bar/restaurant, and any number of boozy topics!

The Fourth Annual Tales of the Cocktail Swag Awards

Another year, another Tales of the Cocktail convention in New Orleans, another chance to rank the swag! I started giving the swag awards in 2007. 

• 2007 Tales of the Cocktail Swag Awards
• 2008 Tales of the Cocktail Swag Awards
• 2009 Tales of the Cocktail Swag Awards

Once again this year they had a gifting suite rather than a swag bag, wherein you were able to fill up a sack with anything from the room. This is what made it home with me. 

I have a lot of swag around the house (and nearly all my jackets and t-shirts have a booze logo on them somewhere), so I try not to take stuff just to take it. I grabbed a bunch of Firefly Sweet Tea Bourbon from the suite, as I knew you can drink that stuff without any mixers back in the hotel room. I saw writer Jason Wilson with a flask of a Dubonnet Cocktail (Dubonnet, gin, bitters) created from all swag items- nicely done. I recreated that in the room as well.

I typically don't have time to make (or the inclination to fight the crowds for) the swag-rific tasting rooms at Tales, but I did receive a few items outside the gifting suite like the full bottles of Angostura rum and Geranium Gin. 

 

I was also handed this year's second place swag winner, an absinthe spoon from Tempus Fugit Spirits. They had the spoons custom made with the skull design, and as a joke kept the real spoon at the end. I will probably use this spoon for every meal and not just for absinthe. Alas, though, the spoon was not heavily-enough branded with the Tempus Fugit name, so it cannot win the award for Best Swag at Tales this year. 

That honor goes to Aperol, for their orange sunglasses. 

Hip enough to be popular, using the color of the product and subtle branding of the name on the side of the sunglasses, inexpensive enough to give out tons of them, extending the brand beyond the bar, and keeping in line with the brand's image (a sunny summer spirit), Aperol knocked it out of the park for Best Item of Swag this year. 

That said, there were tons of items of swag I'm sure I didn't see. For those who attended, what was your favorite item of swag? 

Bar Eras in San Francisco and Beyond

I have a great-looking four-page story in the August Eat + Drink issue of 7x7 Magazine. 

The story splits up old bars and new bars inspired by old bars into five types/eras: Barbary Coast, Speakeasy,  Martini Bar, Tiki Bar, and Fern Bar. In each category I list some identifying factors and a few era-appropriate drinks. 

 There are also tons of great pictures by photographer Erin Kunkel, including these yanked from the 7x7 website. 

Read the story online here or pick up the magazine on the newsstand for even more pictures than on the website. 

  
 

Cocktail Menu for Zero Zero

Opening on July 28th in the former Azie space in San Francisco is Zero Zero, a new pizza restaurant with lots of Latin cocktails, a few classics, and a couple of punches. The Bar Director is Joel Teitelbaum, recently of Credo.

I got hold of the menu to share with y'all.

I see lots of mint, citrus, and fruity flavors that will be refreshing when summer actually arrives to town. 

Zero Zero Cocktail Menu (subject to change)

House

4th and 5th 

Leblon Cachaça, Velvet Falernum, Lime Juice, St. Germain, Peychaud’s Bitters, Ginger Beer

Peruvian 

Encanto Pisco, Lillet Blanc, Bianco Vermouth, Lemon Juice, Basil Leaves 

The High Smolder

Tres Agaves Anejo, Pineapple Gum Syrup, Lime Juice, Nectarine Jalapeño Marmalade

Plum Smash

Old Forester 100 proof, plum, lemon, Mint Leaves, Simple syrup

Folsom Street Sour

Four Roses Bourbon, Fernet, lemon, egg white, grenadine, Seltzer 

Prospect Park

Wild Turkey Rye, Punt e Mes, Luxardo Maraschino, Aperol

Spiced Pimm’s Cup

Hangar One Mandarin, Pimm’s Cup, Clément Creole Shrubb, Lemon, Agave, Seltzer

Jalisco Sour

Siete Leguas Blanco, Lemon Juice, Aperol, Marie Brizard Apry, Egg White

The Picco Collins

Square One Cucumber, Lemon Juice, Mint, Cucumber, Seltzer 

The Refurbished Frobrisher

Oxley Gin, Rosato Vermouth, Maraschino Liqueur

Exhumed Cocktails

Corpse Reviver No. 2

Plymouth Gin, Lillet Blanc, Cointreau, Lemon Juice, Absinthe

Blood And Sand

Yamazaki 12yr, Carpano Antica, Heering Cherry, Fresh Orange Juice

Isla Floradora

Beefeater Gin, Lime, Raspberry Syrup, Mirto Rouge, Rhubarb Bitters, Ginger Beer

Holland House

Bols Genever, Dry Vermouth, Lemon Juice, Maraschino Liquor

Clover Club

Bombay Gin, Lemon, Raspberry Syrup, Egg white, Bitters

The Millionaire

Gosling Black Seal Rum, Plymouth Sloe Gin, Apricot Brandy, Lime

Punch

Pessego Punch

Leblon Cachaça, Lillet Blanc, Peach Brandy, Lemon & Lime, Prosecco

Pimm’s Summer Punch

Pimms’s Cup, Vodka, Lemon, Agave, Cranberry, Ginger Beer

Every Drink I Had at Tales of the Cocktail

I just returned from New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail, a cocktail convention attended by many of the world's top bartenders, drink writers, PR representatives, and superenthusiasts. I think this was my favorite year of the convention to date. 

I tweeted every cocktail I had over the week. Let's see how messy that looks added up!

Tuesday July 20, starting at 5PM

• Vieux Carre and an 
• Abita beer @ Monteleone Bar
• Another Abita beer at Carousel Bar at Monteleone
• makers mark on the rocks out of a plastic cup at acme oyster house
• Sazerac at Carousel Bar
• Vieux Carre at Carousel Bar
• Vieux Carre
• Giant Bud Light with some awful Pizza somewhere on Bourbon Street.

Wednesday July 21

• Coffee with Kahlua to start the day!
• Gold kiwifruit St Germain Splash
• kiwifruit cucumber reviver
• not sure what it's called but kiwi yummers
• Shot of rum before my seminar begins
• Three drinks at my seminar- rear admirals grog
• perudriver
• margarita
• Firefly bourbon in hotel room
• another sweet tea bourbon
• a shot of dubonnet cocktail out of a flask
• 3 glasses of Veuve Cliquot at dinner at Arnauds
• Shot of bourbon 
• bourbon cocktail
• miller lite
• orgeat drink
• 2 shots of Stock Fernet
• Ocho tequila
• Miller lite
• stock fernet

Thursday, July 22

• Cat Daddy Moonshine coffee drink at breakfast
• Drinks of Asia seminar cocktail: unkown cocktail with some herb that tastes like fuzzy lemon dandelion leaves
• cognac old fashioned
• Self Publishing seminar- an amaretto and gin cocktail
• Ron Abuelo juicy drink at Carousel Bar
• nutmeg drink at Consulting seminar 
• firefly bourbon
• Diageo Happy Hour drinks:

1. Joaquin riff on seelbach cocktail
2. Wayne Curtis drink with Oronoco rum and fernet
3. Singapore sling punch
4. Aviation from Simon Difford
5. Daiquiri from bill Norris
6. rosy sinclair by Jason Bram
7. Valentinos Denise by Jim rondall
8. Bryan Dayton serves a Mary Pickford
9. Phillip Duff makes a Clubland
10. Tequila negroni from Ricky gomez
11. Brian miller makes drink with tanqueray dolin chartreuse cocchi
12. Misty Kalkoffen drink 
13. John Lermayer drink
14. Lynette Manero makes a drink
15. Tommy klus Serves a Mexican firing squad
16. Pisco drink from Aisha Sharpe
17. Ed Hamilton actually makes a cocktail!! With Zacapa
18. Jim meehan with a Cuervo drink
19. Spicy drink from Wondrich
20. Sean Muldoon serves a trader Vic drink
21. Andrew Friedman serving a sagatiba drink
22. Cable Car from Tony Abou Ganim
23. Chad and Christie drink
24. Francesco Lafranconi drink
25. Josh Durr drink

• Cure bar daiquiri
• Another daiquiri at Cure
• Dubonnet cocktail In hotel room

Friday, July 23

• a sip of Ron Abuelo rum at breakfast
• 2 Disarono cocktails at my Social Media seminar
• A Glenfiddich drink from Jon Santer
• Bourbon carbonated grapes that taste like a Mint Julep at the Bax vs. Clift seminar
• Sazerac with absinthe fog
• Molecular michelada
• apple sous vide infused calvados. 
• Dehydrated fruit cereal with champagne
• Old fashioned with orange peel smoke served in a jar
• Quick bourbon in the room before a meeting
• 2 Abita Amber and a veggie mufalatta at Cage Maspero
• Pimms Cup at Napoleon House
• Abita Amber at Napoleon House
• glass of bourbon
• Hilo Hai cocktail with Teader Tiki Syrups!
• Stella Artois.
• nip of Ron Abuelo

Saturday, July 24

• a spicy Hendricks cocktail 
• Mount Gay Rum punch.
• Wet Grave cocktail in Darcy Oneils fascinating Soda seminar- bourbon, acid phosphate, bitters, vermouth, claret syrup
• Soda seminar drink with Root beer, gentian, bourbon, acid phosphate
• 10cane rum drink in the Subconscious Drinks seminar
• a sip of Geranium Gin
• Brandy Milk Punch in the Caousel Bar
• 2 rum drinks in hotel room followed 
• 2 martinis at Tales of the Cocktail awards
• Glenlivet Nadurra 16 
• Another gin martini at Tales awards 
• Many swigs of Jameson 18
• a beer with my slice of awful but sobering pizza on bourbon street

Sunday, July 25th

• A morning Akvinta vodka cocktail.
• Stella Artois at breakast
• A Dalmore cocktail at the Keeping Ahead in an Online World seminar
• second Dalmore cocktail
• A final vieux carre at carousel bar.
• One last beer at the airport 

Apparently I had 35 drinks on Thursday. That would be terrifying but do keep in mind that for the vast majority of these drinks I had only a sip out of a glass that only held an ounce or so at maximum. 

Still, my liver will be getting a much-earned rest for a while now that I'm home. 

A Few Tales of the Cocktail Pics

I am at a cocktail convention. It is awesome. Follow me on Twitter @alcademics. Here are some pictures with which to entertain yourselves while I am away. 

The first seminar I attended.

 

How to be a cocktail consultant.

A seminar.