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Do you have a great idea that you absolutely need to share with the bartending community? If so Tales of the Cocktail is now accepting submissions for presentations for Tales of the Cocktail 2010.  I’m sure most people are familiar with this event, so I’ll skip the rehash. You don’t need any previous speak experience to submit an idea, but the idea needs to be good. Here’s some of my tips on how to weasel your way down to New Orleans.

1. Have a good presentation idea. It doesn’t need to be excessively complex, sometimes too much information is a bad thing. I did a presentation on Sugar, which seems rather simple, but there is a lot of useful information on that topic. Basically, take any idea, do the research, apply it to cocktails and that’s what people want.

2. Put the information into a cohesive package, that is relevant to professionals, and send the idea in. When you submit your ideas, flush them out a bit. Don’t be vague. The best presentations that I’ve been to are the ones that are very specific about the topic.

3. Don’t make things up and don’t get too fancy. Try to avoid the “Benefits of Meteorite Infused Vodka” type ideas. This is the professional side of the industry, not the ‘Ripper Bar and Slush Machine Operator Local 666 Convention (that’s on Bourbon Street Monday to Sunday - 9PM ‘til Sunrise).

4. The topics I find most people talk about are history, science and technique. People want to know how to do things better and how they did them in the past. These topics aren’t hard, they just require information. The Internet is a great resource, but you can’t believe everything you read on it. The best research requires you to hit the local library.

What? “They don’t have a big selection of historical cocktail books” you say? Then ask about Inter-Library loans. Most libraries can bring books in from all across America and even from other countries.

If the library is not your thing, figure out something cool about technique. Carve ice, make pulled sugar garnishes, or work on “the art of sliding drinks down the mahogany” with a focus on curving them around corners. That will get you in for sure.

Tales is a fun event, and the people who attend are very interested in new and cool things to do behind the bar. If you can provide that, you’ll easily sell out your session. But remember, you are going to be sharing information with the top bartenders and beverage professional from around the world, so make it good.

Tales 2010 Submission Form

Summer has finally arrived where I live, so I’ve been enjoying it, which means less posts. But don’t worry I have a couple of big projects up my sleeve, so expect to see one in about a month. For now the slides for the Drinks from the 1600’s session are now available. The file is a hefty 14MB, because of the large number of images, so be patient.

Drinks from the 1600’s

The Sugar: Science of Sweet presentation is now available in PDF format. I tried exporting it to Flash, but no luck, for now. I’ll be expanding on some of the items, in articles, over the summer, but if you have a question, feel free to post your question on this page and I’ll answer it as soon as possible.

Sugar: Science of Sweet (PDF)

Tales of the Cocktail moves along so fast, sometimes it is hard to really know what day it is. Happily, I woke up, without a hangover, and realized it was Friday, my big, two session, back-to-back, day. I love a challenge.

Pictures have started popping up in the photo gallery. Upload speeds, via the hotel’s wireless, is rather slow, so it could very well take a couple hours to get the pictures online. I’m working on that.

Anyway, I arrived around noon yesterday, went to lunch at Iris, in the Beinville House Hotel, with the CSOWG Drink.Write crew. Then we had a bloggers discussion on how to improve our reach and expand the world of cocktails. I’ll write up more on that eventually.

After that we went for dinner at Rambla and had a few drinks. I decided to be wise and retire by 11PM. A good night sleep is probably the best way to start Tales.

And with this post I am on my way to Tales of the Cocktail 2009. Next post will be from New Orleans. If you can’t attend, but still like the spirit of the event, I’ll be covering much of it here on Art of Drink. My intent is to do more photography this year and upload it in a timely fashion. Also, I’ll throw in a post here and there. I’ll also be Tweeting (if you don't Twitter you can see the updates just below the navigation menu on the site) and you can follow on Facebook.

If you want a wider perspective, and I’m sure you do, check out the Tales Blog which will be updated frequently with posts from all the other cocktail bloggers in attendance. This looks to be the biggest year yet, so there will be a lot of great stories. Cheers!

Tales of the Cocktail 2009 Photo Gallery

The crew at Drinksville posted two good episodes on Casa Herradura Tequila. Graham takes a tour down to Mexico and checks out the agave plantations and the Herradura distillery. The video is in two parts (Part One / Part Two). If you want some more insight into tequila, check it out.

Of course I forgot pictures in my last post, so here are a few.

For those who don’t follow my rather domestic life on Facebook, I just wanted to announce that Caroline and I have had child #2 on Wednesday (March 11th), a beautiful little girl whose name is Ciara (3.55kg (7lbs 13oz) 51cm (20in)). The name is of Irish origin and means “black” which is very close to the meaning of Darcy, which is “dark”. You’d think we were naming horses. Anyway, everyone is happy, healthy and slightly sleep deprived, but even that hasn’t been to bad so far. As per normal, my posts maybe sporadic, but I’ve been working on some stuff that’s mostly ready to post, so things shouldn’t slow down to much here.

The search for “bartender of the year” has begun. Cocktail competitions are nothing new, but few do it with this much style. To promote this new competition, that is billing itself as the “Liquid Oscars”, they brought in some heavy weight talent to get the word out. Again, nothing new, but the way they put it together is quite impressive. If you want to see a very well done combination of Flash and video, with seven talented bartenders, including Simon Difford, Gary Regan and Angus Winchester, head over to The Magnificent Seven. After that, head over to We Are World Class.

Regional events are in the works, but should be announced soon. The final will be held in July 2009. The sponsor for the event is Diageo and the focus is on their reserve brands, with four categories to be announced, so keep that in mind.

If you want to see how they made site, there is a behind the scenes blog with all the details.

I've put together the 194 pictures I snapped during the Finlandia Cup event in Colorado Spring. You can check them out in the new photo section, which is where I'll be adding event photo's in the future. With the number of photo's I've been taking lately, dedicated area for photo's seemed logical. A full article on the Finlandia event is coming later this week.

So far the response to the Imbibers 100 has be interesting, and opinionated, of course. A few forums have jumped in and started plucking away at the choices. As per one uptight poster "Sauternes AND Chateau d'Yquem?" My response is but of course, if you don't know what the bottom tastes like, how can you ever appreciate the finest? Same reason I added Bud. Even though I haven't actually chugged a Bud, I've had  enough macrobrew (Blue, Canadian, etc.). Just because drinks are the same style doesn't mean they are the same. Taste can be, and should be, an exercise in contrast.

I never trust someone who claims to only drink microbrewed beer and single malt scotch, and states overwhelmingly that they are better than macrobrew and blended. Why? Again, appreciation is having the understanding of taste range. Plus, we always have to factor in a persons preferences, heritage and genetics (non, normal and super tasters).

Of the responses, Ting, Wray & Nephew Overproof and Clamato seem to be high on the list of something everyone should try.

Now the most controversial item was Buckley's Cough Syrup. For those who have tried it, they would laugh, so maybe it was a location / inside joke. Why didn't I get the memo that humour had died on the Internet?

Overall, a fun little experiment. Keeping it to 100 seems to provoke discussion. The list could easily go to 1000, but that would be no fun.

A wretched hive of scum and villainy is the best way to describe Mixoloseum's Thursday Drink Night. If you haven't dropped by for the interactive cocktail chat, then let me explain a little about this weekly event. First, it is usually hosted by Rick (Kaiser Penguin) and Gabe (Cocktailnerd), both blessed with iron livers. If those two don't scare you away, then I won't tell you who else shows up, so let's talk about the premise of TDN.

This weekend I'm heading west to Colorado to check out the Finlandia Cup North American finals. Seven bartenders from the US and four from Canada are competing for the opportunity to face off against 30 of the worlds best bartenders in Finland, this February. I'm just there to check out the action and see what creative cocktails win the day. I'll have a full report when I return.

This trip was unexpected, so I will be missing my first Mixology Monday. Aside from Paul, I think I'm the only other person to participate in every event thus far. Unfortunately, the theme for this Monday is "Made From Scratch" which is a little more complex than just whipping up a cocktail, and I don't have the time to join in. But check it out anyway, it should be interesting.

After the excellent response to the Sensory Perception & Mixology presentation at Tales of the Cocktail, and the continuing demand, I'm going to be presenting this session a few more times in selected cities.

Tickets still available: To reserve, email dsoneil@gmail.com with your name, phone # and how many tickets you would like.

Here is an interesting article from the New Haven Register (August 18,1880) about how bourbon was made. It discuss both sweet mash and sour mash methods. It also lists a couple of laws I had never heard of before including the maximum amount of time for sweet mash fermenting and sour mash fermenting. I've transcribed the article, and back in 1880, it seems run on sentences were common.

For the next few days I will be down in Kentucky as a guest of the Woodford Reserve Distillery. A mixed group of writers and journalists will be checking out the new Woodford Reserve Master's Collection release. We are also going to be checking out some serious food and spending an afternoon at the Keeneland Raceway and Horse park. There will be lots to write about when I return, so stay tuned.