Many Tales to Tell
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 6:38PM 
Last weekend, New York City’s top artisanal bartenders embarked on a 1,000-mile long pilgrimage to the Gulf Coast. No, not to help contain the BP oil spill. Rather, they were at Tales of the Cocktail, one of the world’s biggest imbibing events, held annually in steamy New Orleans. For five days, our city’s best drink-slingers held court with their international peers and thousands of cocktail enthusiasts at in-depth seminars and cocktail technique demonstrations. They also dispensed oceans of drinks, at countless booze-soaked parties. It was not for the faint of heart…or liver.
Top Players
It was a true who’s-who of the cocktail scene, attracting spirituous, Gotham-based luminaries including Dale DeGroff (formerly of the Rainbow Room), David Wondrich (Esquire Magazine), Paul Pacult (The Spirits Journal), Audrey Saunders (Pegu Club), Julie Reiner (Flatiron Lounge and Clover Club), Jim Meehan and John Deragon (PDT), Phil Ward (Mayahuel), Dushan Zaric (Employees Only), Jason Littrell (Death & Co.), Giuseppe Gonzalez and Richie Boccato (Painkiller) and Darryl Robinson (The Cooking Channel).
They were joined by follow mix-masters James Menite (Porter House New York), John Pomeroy (recently of The Hideout), Tad Carducci & Paul Tanguay (The Tippling Bros.), Aisha Sharpe and Willy Shine (Contemporary Cocktails) and Jonathan Pogash (The Cocktail Guru).
Coming to Their Senses
The daytime seminars delved into topics ranging from the sensory analysis of how we taste drinks to the recent return of the tiki bar. Others explored the “Dark Ages” of bartending (and the awful drinks of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s), as well as techniques for decoding ancient mixological recipes. The seminars began bright and early, and were accompanied by “stimulating” beverages. Simultaneous tasting rooms featured boatloads of rums, vodkas, gins, cachaças, Scotch whiskies, Irish whiskeys and even legitimate moonshine to sample both straight and in well-mixed quaffs.
But when the sun went down, the real partying began. First off was the Beefeater Welcome Reception, held at the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Museum, with transportation provided via an authentic double-decker bus straight out of London. Hundreds crowded the museum’s three levels to imbibe cocktails by Audrey Saunders, Franky Marshall (Clover Club) and others, amidst décor and roaming characters vaguely reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland on acid.
Tourney Time
For those inclined to watching live late-night sports, Pernod Ricard sponsored a Midnight Pétanque Tournament that featured 13 bartender teams, with Big Apple participants such as Sasha Petraske, Don Lee and John Deragon. An entire street was lined with sand to create the playing surface, and giant lanterns illuminated the humidity-laced night sky. There was professional competition as well, with the Spirited Awards gala dinner, which recognized leaders of the imbibing world. Hosted by Ann and Paul Tuennerman, the founding couple behind Tales, it featured a ’60s Mad Men vibe, hand-carved ice spheres and roaming cocktail carts with heavy-handed pourers. Death & Co. walked away with Best American Bar and World’s Best Cocktail Menu. Agave spirit-obsessed Mayahuel snagged the award for the World’s Best New Cocktail Bar. The ceremony was followed by a solemn New Orleans-style funeral procession—in pouring rain no less—to bury the unredeemable “Sex on the Beach” cocktail.
Breakfast, Anyone?
For those still able to amble, the final bash was the annual Plymouth Bartenders breakfast, which heated up around midnight. While biscuits with egg and sausage were thoughtfully provided, it was the liquid offerings that drew boozehounds to a dark and cavernous space in the artsy Soho-esque Warehouse District, which featured boasted lively bars and live music. Lower East Side tiki mecca Painkiller caused a near riot with irresistible frozen drinks served in hollowed-out pineapples by co-owners Giuseppe Gonzalez and Richie Boccato. It was a night to remember, if only one could.
Thankfully, the hooch marathon came to an end, with everyone slightly worse for wear. While detox and clean living are now the order of the day, at least for a few days, most folks have already set their sights on returning to the Crescent City in 2011. —MICHAEL ANSTENDIG