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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.

I've checked out two new Canadian whiskies. The first is the new Forty Creek Double Barrel Reserve, the second is Wiser's Small Batch Whisky. Both are better than most Canadian whiskies. They both move in the direction of more flavourful spirits, while retaining the classic Canadian characteristics (smooth, friendly, easy going).

I've decided to improve the interactivity of the Art of Drink. The first step is to allow people to register, which will improve commenting and access to future features of the site. It will also help me determine who reads this site. Now, I understand that information usually isn't free, so I'm going to provide some incentive to register.

If you decide to register, I will automatically enter you into a draw for one of three prizes. Anyone who has already register is automatically entered already.

The value of the prize, with shipping, is about $50 each. I guarantee you will like the prize. You must be of legal drink age in your country / state / province to qualify. I may add more prizes, or if a company wants to provide branded loot to be included with the prizes, please feel free to contact me. 

Deadline for entry is December 10th, 2008. Winners will be announced December 12th, 2008.

The Registration line starts here.

Improvements

1. If you are a regular commenter you will get "Trusted User" status which will allow your comments to be posted immediately. Currently, I screen the comments due to the malevolent forces of the Internet. Spammers to be specific.

2. Future access to new features. Being a blog is great, but becoming stagnant is bad. New features and plugins are constantly being made available and these types of improvements will hopefully keep people coming back.

3. Who reads the Art of Drink? When you register, there are a few simple questions I'd like you to answer. Hopefully this info will help me write articles that appeal to the demographics of this site. If I find out everyone is 22 year old college girls, then I just might have to become a girly drink and shooter site.

Well, I finally had some time to sit down and put the presentation onto the Art of Drink. I wanted to format it in the style of the website, since having just the point form presentation leaves a lot of knowledge gaps. So, down the road I'll be adding "context" to each topic and hopefully for those that didn't attend, or couldn't make it to Tales of the Cocktail, will get some useful information. For now, the basic presentation can be found here: Sensory Perception & Mixology