"New York has played a role in my own bibulous education." [Flickr: ilmungo] New York City has always been a drinking town. From the first taverns of New Amsterdam to the palatial 19th century hotel ballrooms to the Prohibition-era speakeasies and today’s cutting-edge cocktail lounges, New York has always been well prepared to slake the thirsts that come with being one of the world’s greatest cities. Fittingly, after all this time, the city will celebrate its spirituous history at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic on October 3 and 4, the city's first-ever "part festival, part fête, part conference, part cocktail party." The series of seminars, tastings and out-and-out parties (check) will take place at the Astor Center and assorted bars around...
Continue reading »
While I dutifully made my way through the original Star Wars franchise during my preteen years and I managed a few rounds of Dungeons & Dragons before adolescence got in the way, I’ve never gotten very deep into comic books, hobbits, or many of the other things that many folks of my generation have embraced at a level that is, dare I say it, geekish. But as Derek Brown wrote recently on the Atlantic Food Channel, cocktails are an aspect of the culinary world that not only inspire their own level of geekery but even have their own equivalent of a Star Trek convention: Tales of the Cocktail. Now in its seventh year, Tales of the Cocktail attracts thousands of...
Continue reading »
In our globalized world, it’s refreshing to remember that each part of our culinary universe has a distinctive home. This also applies to cocktails; while New York is certainly a world capital of mixology and has the historical record to back it up, New Orleans is the spiritual home of all things spirituous. Every July, New Orleans hosts thousands of fans of good cocktails and great food who come together for an event called Tales of the Cocktail—the Super Bowl, World Series, and World Cup of the spirits world, all wrapped up in one event. Now in its sixth year from July 16 to 20, Tales of the Cocktail is poised to have its biggest showing ever: the five days...
Continue reading »
