Alcademics

Tales of the Cocktail is a wonderful hellish nightmare of a cocktail convention held in New Orleans every year. I'm still filling out my schedule and may update this page, but here is where I am sure to be. 

Also, please enjoy this picture of me taken on Bourbon Street about 6 years ago at Tales of the Cocktail. I was, and remain, a class act.

Thursday 16th July  from 330-5pm Seminar

#SED Talks: Tales Talks in Just 15 Minutes

Grand Ballroom South in the Royal Sonesta 

#SEDTalks presents the distilled insights of the sharpest minds in our industry, presenting for no more than 15 minutes each (TED Talks-style), on the widest range of topics at Tales! Past #SEDTalks have covered topics such as the intersection of whisky and music, how sustainable, low-impact distillery architecture can be exhilarating, the place of mysticism in gin marketing, why "craft" doesn't have to mean small-scale, and what we can learn from Cuba about simplicity in cocktails. #SEDTalks presenters range from industry legends like Angus Winchester, Ryan Chetiyawardana and Dave Broom, to people you've never heard of who possess fresh perspectives on the world of spirits and cocktails. Buy the ticket, come to #SEDTalks, and prepare to have your boundaries expanded!

Camper English will be one of the speakers at this seminar. 

Friday, July 17 • 10:30am - 12:00pm Seminar

The Essential Global Guide to Liqueurs with Camper English

Grand Ballroom North at the Royal Sonesta Hotel 

We use liqueurs in the vast majority of cocktails yet rarely talk about them as a category. In this seminar we’ll review the history, art, and science of liqueurs made around the world. We’ll look at how they were born out of necessity to cover up bad distillation or the bitterness of medicine, classify hundreds of liqueurs into categories based on their flavoring ingredients like nuts, fruits, herbs; dairy- or egg-based, etc., and look at how and where each developed in different parts of the planet. We’ll cover the difference in history and reality between orange Curacao and triple sec, and review which liqueurs have legal definitions of their origin, sweeteners, and/or proof: Did you know that there is an AOC for limoncello and that sambuca has a legal minimum sugar content? We’ll study the complicated ways in which liqueurs are made through infusion, flavor extraction, redistillation, emulsification, and other technologies, and look at the base spirits and added sweeteners employed around the world from sugar beets to honey. Finally, we’ll discuss their use in cocktails both as modifiers and as base spirits; measuring their densities for the ultimate pousse-café, and dehydrating them to flavor foods, candies, and other fun stuff.

Note that this seminar is sold out but there is a waiting line for media and presenters to attend. 

Saturday, July 18 • 10:30am - 12:00pm Seminar

Prehistoric Cocktail Technology Demo with Camper English

Grand Ballroom South at the Royal Sonesta Hotel 

In our modern era that affords the technology of low-pressure distillation and high-speed centrifuges, we still smoke barley over an open fire and crush agave fibers with giant rocks. In this fun demonstration-oriented seminar, we’ll focus on the low-tech methods once used and sometimes still employed in making spirits and cocktails, and talk about whether they produce better booze or merely invoke old-timey nostalgia. Discussions and demonstrations will include processes like clarification with bone and milk solids, cooling cocktails with ammonia, early carbonation technology, using bugs and burnt caramel to color spirits, glass blowing, ice and salt pond-harvesting, and much, much more.

Note: This seminar still has tickets available. 

Dynamic Duo Happy Hour Presented by Rutte

Featuring The Bon Vivants & Camper English  

Saturday, July 18, 2015 4:00 - 6:00pm Napoleon House, 500 Chartres Street

From the historic port city of Dordrecht in The Netherlands to the banks of the Mississippi River, Rutte, the smallest distillery in Holland, makes it’s U.S. debut at Tales of The Cocktail this year. Rutte presents Dominic Venegas and Whitney Hobbs from The Bon Vivants, together with cocktails and spirits writer Camper English - a finalist this year for the Spirited Award for Best Cocktail & Spirits Writer - behind the bar at Napoleon House crafting cocktails for you with Rutte’s unique spirits: Dry Gin, Celery Dry Gin, and Old Simon Genever.

Rutte (ROOT-eh) crafts small-batch, handmade gins, genevers, and vodka in the same backroom that founder Simon Rutte used to distill his own concoctions back in 1872. The artisanal spirits are 100-percent natural with no artificial colors or flavors, and the recipes have been guarded and passed down for seven generations, refined and tailored for today’s audience. In 2011 Rutte joined De Kuyper Royal Distillers, an 11 generation family business with the same commitment to craftsmanship and heritage.

Saturday, July 18 • 6:30pm - 11:30pm

Spirited Awards Ceremony

Sheraton New Orleans

Camper English is a finalist for Best Cocktail Writer this year. Come watch him lose.