I have long thought that politics and drink (and in particular absinthe) don't mix well. Alcohol - especially absinthe - has been badly hit by politics in the past.
So I was interested to see this new cocktail book a few weeks ago:
Attempting to be politically neutral, I have hidden the subtitle of the book in the photo but if you're curious you can see it and read brief extracts here.
I love the idea of making absinthe great again, and have been trying to do so for more than 15 years. There are some interesting cocktails here, but sadly too few absinthe cocktails. If you want to get better books about absinthe cocktails, then we have a few recommendations here.
Back to politics and to the title of this post. What has the European Union ever done for us? Some of you may remember this from Monty Python's Life of Brian:
For me, a UK citizen, today is a day of reflection: it's the day we leave the European Union. I'm not going to provide a long list of things the European Union has done for us. There is one important action, however, that they took back in 1988, which has profoundly changed my life and maybe that of my readers too. In 1988, European Council Directive No. 88/388/EEC was enacted and it had one very interesting and unintended consequence. It set a limit for thujone (spelt as "thuyone" in the directive) in drinks, primarily aimed at bitters, vermouths, and herbal liqueurs:
10 mg/kg in alcoholic beverages with more than 25 % volume of alcohol
35 mg/kg in bitters
and these would lead to the complete re-legalization of absinthe across the European Union, in Switzerland in 2005 and in the USA in 2007.
Astonishingly no-one seemed to realise the effect of this legislation in the EU until several years after 1988. The EU probably didn't realise that their limits re-opened the door to absinthe, with 19th century samples shown to be within these limits. There are different claims as to who first realised this, and some of the first "absinthes" sold as a result were not good examples of what could be produced.
However it seems clear that this first re-legalization within the EU was not as a result of any pressure from distillers: it was a completely unintended consequence, one could almost term it a "mistake." Swiss and American companies were later able to capitalize on this, but, without it, absinthe might still be a curiosity produced in very small quantities for tourists to Spain and Prague. Without it, most of my readers might never have enjoyed this wonderful drink. So tonight as the UK leaves the European Union, I will be drinking an absinthe toast to the EU politicians and bureaucrats who helped to start absinthe's journey from the shadows to the light. Cheers! Santé!
Whether you're a bartender or a consumer, we've been listening to what you say.
Bartenders think that the absinthe ritual can be a nuisance when a bar is really busy. They have to get a fountain ready with chilled water, pour a measure of absinthe in a glass, maybe put a spoon with a sugar lump on the glass, position it correctly and drip the water. And then they have to wait to make sure the glass doesn't overflow!
Consumers can be unsure of how much water to add, whether or not to use sugar, and sometimes they just don't want to wait for their drink!
Absinthe lovers in the 19th century had the same problems. After a busy day painting (and, by the way, ingesting all those toxic paint fumes), Van Gogh really didn't want to wait for his drink. Indeed it is possible that waiting drove him mad. Literally.
We've seen ready-to-drink "absinthe" in various countries around the world. Notably in Russia:
Up to now, ready-to-drink "absinthe" has tended to be low quality, and didn't communicate all the fun we think consumers look for in this type of drink. And then we saw the picture at the top of this blog. We posted it in the social media and were amazed at the response:
A high quality ready-to-drink absinthe has to communicate fun and enjoyment. So we decided to call it ...
Absinthe on the Gogh
We hasten to add that this is the not final pack design, and we need to do some more research. Which is why we are posting this so we can ask you, whether you are a bartender or an absinthe lover a few questions. Please answer in the comments below.
What is better in a bar? A can or a bottle?
What is better for home use, or indeed for picnics, etc?
What size? The can above is 250 ml, but maybe that is a bit big. Adding 3 parts of water to one US measure (1.5 fl oz) comes to 176 ml.
If a ready-to-drink is allowed to rest for a while, you will need to shake before serving. Shake the drink, not yourself (although if you shake yourself while holding a closed drink, that might work). A see-through bottle may not look too appetising if the contents have separated, so is an opaque bottle OK?
Do you like the name "Absinthe On the Gogh" which reverses the pun in the picture at the top? Absinthe To Gogh wouldn't work in bars: bartenders don't want their customers to go!
Do you have any other comments or questions? Any other names?
There is one issue we know about with this name. In England, Van Gogh's last name sounds similar to Goth. But given the affinity between Goths and absinthe, maybe that's OK. Some have commented that my distiller looks like a goth ... or should that be a Gogh?!
On August 4th, 2015, many absinthe lovers were quite dismissive of a new video which appeared on BuzzFeed that day: "Americans try Absinthe for the First Time."
Initial comments included: "Just silly, "Makes us Americans look like idiots," "It boggles my mind to believe that people STILL believe that absinthe makes you "TRIP" balls .."
Then the comments changed to "Well, at least they prepared it properly and used actual absinthe," and recognition of how BuzzFeed works: "If it isn't ridiculous then BuzzFeed doesn't want it. Hipsters pretending to trip ballz on just alcohol generates views, education does not."
And this video has certainly generated views: over 2.1 million YouTube views at the time of writing, making it by some way the highest viewed absinthe video ever shown on YouTube (and thus probably globally). It also has more likes (over 65,000 likes) and more comments (over 2,500) than any other absinthe video. The video was also posted on Facebook, where (as of October 8, 2015),it has had over 20 million views, over 180,000 likes, over 280,000 shares, and over 44,000 comments!)
Here are the rest of the Top Five YouTube absinthe videos. They are here for completion only, and I don't recommend wasting too much time watching them (apart from the absinthe glass drawing video).
A video for IOS Jailbreak software. Nothing to do with real absinthe. 1.4 million views.
The absinthe effect. Nothing to do with real absinthe, this video just shows the effect of being very drunk. 1.2 million views.
How I drew an absinthe glass. At last a good video that is partly about absinthe. Also 1.2 million views.
Shoenice slams absinthe. Showing how to drink a whole bottle of Lucid Absinthe at one go. Just under 1.2 million views.
I wanted to put up those other 4 videos as well to highlight a couple of points:-
a) Sadly there doesn't seem to be any great interest in good educational videos for real absinthe. There are some educational videos further down the top 20 list, but most of them choose products that absinthe connoisseurs would not recognise as real absinthe and one includes the burning option.
b) It is all too easy to associate drinking absinthe with getting drunk or "other" effects. The BuzzFeed video's stars are either claiming to experience those "other" effects, or are actually experiencing placebo effects. Entertaining, perhaps, but not very educational or informative. At least it is not focused on watching people getting drunk!
c) Viewing all five videos, and then reading the comments underneath the BuzzFeed video, there remains an enormous, ongoing need for education about absinthe. What it is, what it does and how to drink it.
Ignoring the video's humorous elements, BuzzFeed clearly shows how to drink it.
With chilled water (3 - 5 parts).
The fountain is optional: a decanter or carafe can work just as well.
Maybe with a sugar cube, although a lot of good absinthes do not need any sugar.
Not as a shot, and definitely not burnt.
It skips briefly over what it is ...
and doesn't really answer the question of effects here:
There is NO difference between absinthe in the past and "modern absinthe," except for the fact that some "bath-tub absinthe" made in the 19th century may have been poisonous!
BuzzFeed makes one very good point, maybe without realising it. It chose two absinthes in smaller (200 ml) bottles for its video: La Clandestine and St. George.
Smaller bottles are an ideal way to try absinthes for the first time before committing to a full bottle purchase. In fact smaller bottles may also be a good way for some bars to start with absinthes (especially if they want to offer a broader range or if they expect a lot of their absinthe to be used in dashes or rinses).
BuzzFeed shows people socialising and having fun with absinthe, hints at its naughtier side, but also illustrates the issues and opportunities for absinthe. BuzzFeed videos are produced in Los Angeles, and it seems rather surprising that none of the cast have tried absinthe before. If the characters in this video (trendy, well-off Californians) really are trying absinthe for the first time, then absinthe companies have some way to go to create trial and interest.
I find the comments beneath the BuzzFeed video to be of greater concern (current ignorance) and to highlight the opportunities (overcoming ignorance will attract and keep tomorrow's consumers). There continues to be a lot of misunderstanding about absinthe, but BuzzFeed has helped to correct some of that. For those of us in the absinthe sector (making, marketing, selling absinthe), the need for education continues. Bars and retailers serving and selling absinthe correctly will do a lot to address the ongoing ignorance about the category.
I would love it if BuzzFeed had made an even better educational video, but their film is, in overall terms, a positive for the category. I'm pleased that BuzzFeed chose 200 ml bottles for the video (La Clandestine and St. George): they are a great way to try an absinthe for the first time.
Finally, an absinthe video that is a little more educational. I've pulled together a collection of photos (taken by Peter Wilhelm) showing the wonderful 2015 Grande Wormwood harvest featuring a top wormwood grower, Yves Currit and several absinthe makers, including Claude-Alain Bugnon. The wormwood is now being dried (see the last few photos) and the absinthe will be available in 2016 should BuzzFeed be ready for another video about absinthe!
For the last year or so, my bartender presentations on absinthe have included much more about the role of absinthe in cocktails. Absinthe was first distilled commercially in 1798 (in Couvet, Switzerland) and 1798 is also the year that the word "cocktail" first appeared in print meaning a drink. Absinthe and cocktails seem to have been "paired at birth." Around the world, bartenders now seem to realize that a lot of the old stories and ways of drinking absinthe were myths and fabrications to prey on the ignorant. But some bartenders still don't seem to know what to do with absinthe (apart from rinses in Sazeracs and dashes in Corpse Revivers, that is). So I was delighted when James Fowler contacted me about an opportunity to talk about absinthe in cocktails with the Bournemouth Bartenders League (BBL). James will be well-known to regular readers here as the owner of The Larder House (home of the first UK absinthe dinner) and more recently the UK winner of Diageo's World Class Bartender competition. I don't know whether there is "something in the water" around Bournemouth or whether it is the inspiration of people like James, but it is clear that there is a lot of bartending expertise there. James put me in touch with Salvatore Damiano of the BBL and a few weeks later, I drove to The Larder House and I gave a short presentation about absinthe in cocktails (with the behind-the-bar help of Franco) ...
I have no idea what I was doing with the iPad in that top right shot, but by the time of the bottom right shot, I had finished my talk and was enjoying watching the cream of local bartenders at work. Why? Well, I have spent far too much time in the last year or so analysing history, the ways in which absinthe was used in cocktails back in the days of Harry Craddock at The Savoy (1930), and how modern bartenders are now using absinthe. For example ...
The first column of numbers shows the % of absinthe cocktails which used specific other ingredients in The Savoy in 1930. Not surprisingly absinthe was used in a lot of cocktails with gin and/or vermouth. The second column of numbers is based on the best absinthe cocktails book, A Taste for Absinthe, published in 2010, with cocktails provided by many of the world's best bartenders. Gin and vermouth have slipped down the list, and lemon/lime along with sugar or simple syrup have become the most popular ingredients to be paired with absinthe in cocktails.
Interestingly both La Clandestine and Pernod are working extensively with cocktails made almost entirely with absinthe, limes and sugar. The Clandestino was first made in 2007 and The Green Beast was first made about three years later.
So why was I at the Larder House? Here there was a team of contestants who were not thinking of the 1930 or even of 2010. They were thinking of creating the next great absinthe cocktail. Their brief was to use a full measure of absinthe, either La Clandestine or Butterfly, in creating their own new cocktail, and here is what they created and what I had the pleasure of judging ..
I loved the way that David took elements from Butterfly's past: especially the fact that the owner of Dempsey, Boston, was one of the major US players fighting the threat of prohibition.
Stirred over ice and topped with elderflower tonic water and finished with a lavender foam
The foam was an interesting challenge for a judge; of course one has to taste through it too, in order to understand how the taste of the cocktail will develop. The one small issue I had with this cocktail was the name which didn't quite communicate how wonderful this cocktail was.
A very full measure of Butterfly here: 40 ml. Great taste and presentation. This is getting difficult ...
5. Joel Whitmore, The Larder House
Covert Beets in the Back Streets of Couvet Per serving –
40ml Apple & Ginger Juice
20ml Beetroot Juice
0.1g malic acid Pour all ingredients into iced filled absinthe fountain.
Stir. Add 25ml La Clandestine Absinthe into Absinthe glass.
Turn taps and add desired amount of apple and beet mix to absinthe. Garnish with Swiss mountain flowers.
I had met Joel previously and, honestly, I didn't want him to win if he seemed to have any inside advantage! But I couldn't fault the concept or the final presentation and taste. Absinthe and beetroot do work together well, both visually and in a cocktail. It wasn't the punchiest of names for a cocktail but apart from that, it was faultless.
So I chose two winners: Joel (for the best cocktail with La Clandestine) and Thomas (for the best cocktail with Butterfly).
And I was delighted that Salvatore chose another winner, David, for the Bournemouth Bartenders League prize.
It was a great day for me, in which I learnt a lot about the process of creating cocktails: from naming, through to preparation and execution. Thank you to the Bournemouth Bartenders League, thank you to Matt Pollard for the photographs (hopefully my collages did not spoil them too much!),and above all thanks to Salvatore for organising it all. It is clear that great absinthe cocktails can be made with much more than a few drops or dashes as used by Craddock in 1930. If this happens elsewhere, absinthe distillers will be very busy keeping up with demand in the near future!
I blogged about Absinthe Days in 2012, noting that March 5 had been designated National Absinthe Day in the USA at Lucid's instigation and that March 1 was being celebrated in Switzerland as their Absinthe Day.
March 5, 2007 was the day when Lucid got their final US approval, and coincidentally March 5, 2013 was the day when Pernod got their final label approval for their new "original recipe."
Neither of these dates were celebrated at the time for a variety of reasons, including the fact that products were not actually available in the US to celebrate with.
How very different from March 1, 2005: the day when absinthe was re-legalised in Switzerland after a 95 year absence. There was extensive press and TV coverage ...
The articles above feature both Claude-Alain Bugnon, the first illegal/"clandestine" distiller to go legal, and Yves Kubler.
Parties were held and many green fairies were observed that day in the Val-de-Travers (there may be some videos of the event on YouTube). All in all, it was a crazy day, and judging by videos of the Mardi Gras, it seems the Swiss and the citizens of New Orleans have a lot in common!
So it seems appropriate that in the space of 5 days this year, we can celebrate the Swiss Absinthe Day, Mardi Gras and then the US National Absinthe Day. With all those opportunities to drink, I probably don't need to suggest any more absinthe cocktails!
In fact on Mardi Gras I will be running a consumer event on absinthe in cocktails at London's famous Milk and Honey, and sadly I will not be able to go to London's Mardi Gras event at the NOLA Bar. NOLA, London is the first bar outside North America to win the coveted Seal of the Sazerac. Obviously a Sazerac - or an Absinthe Frappé - would be great way to celebrate any or all of these dates. In fact I will be drinking at least two different versions of the Death in the Afternoon that evening to see how different absinthes work in different ways in the same cocktail. That will be an interesting experiment - and one that I would urge any absinthe lover or bartender to consider.
My own distiller has progressed somewhat since 2005, and thankfully he now has some slightly larger alembics!
The drink above is currently my favourite cocktail and is one of two I will be drinking on Repeal Day soon. More details of this drink below but first a few words about prohibition and repeal. These are topics that have been very interesting for me since I was responsible for selling alcohol in some Middle East countries
where it was officially banned, and I was also able to observe the effects of prohibition in some States in India. I was living in Delhi at the time and was responsible for selling alcohol (but not absinthe) throughout India. The neighbouring State to Delhi was "dry," meaning alcohol was banned there. We sold a lot to the shops near the border (mm .. where did it all go?!) and had no sales or marketing costs in the dry State, making it very profitable for us. The ban on alcohol in the dry State merely served to whet the appetite of potential customers there.
The long prohibition of absinthe in the USA had a similar effect with many American consumers finding ways to order absinthe online before the ban was finally lifted. Prohibition didn't/doesn't work and merely served/serves to make the banned drinks more intriguing for some.
Indeed the prohibition of absinthe in Switzerland merely drove the whole category underground and is responsible for the birth of some once notorious but now famous absinthe brands such as La Clandestine.
The full story of the birth of La Clandestine in the dark days of the Swiss absinthe ban can be read here.
When it comes to prohibition and repeal, absinthe has the longest history of being banned and is the subject of the most recent repeals. Absinthe was effectively banned in the USA from 1912, 8 years before prohibition. Repeal, whose 80th anniversary is celebrated on December 5, 1933, did not extend to absinthe for another 73 years. Until March 5, 2007, or another 26,753 days to be precise!
So while the US celebrates the 80th anniversary of repeal, absinthe lovers must either mourn all those lost "green hours," or must make up for lost time. I prefer the latter!
So I want to celebrate two events: repeal in general and then the repeal of the absinthe ban. I'll do so with a classic cocktail from the 1920's and 1930's and then with a modern cocktail.
Firstly, what better way to make up for lost time than by trying one (or more) of the absinthe cocktails created to celebrate prohibition and enjoyed in bars like London's Savoy around 1930 while Americans, in theory, were not allowed to drink out in their own country.
The Savoy Cocktail Book mischievously lists a selection of "COCKTAILS SUITABLE FOR A PROHIBITION COUNTRY" which are "for those countries where they make the most of prohibition." This list includes Special (Rough) Cocktail 1 Dash Absinthe 1/2 Applejack 1/2 Brandy Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. This is not well reviewed in the Savoy Stomp ("The name is pretty accurate"), so I gave it a miss.
Prohibition started in 1920 so it seems fair to assume that these next two cocktails were expressly named to mark prohibition:
Nineteen-Twenty Cocktail 1 Teaspoonful Groseille Syrup 1/6 Pernod Kirsch 1/6 Crystal Gin 2/3 French Vermouth 1 Dash Absinthe Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. and
Nineteen-Twenty Pick-Me-Up Cocktail 2/3 Absinthe 1/3 Gin 1 Dash Angostura Bitters 1 Dash Orange Bitters 1 Dash Gomme Syrup Shake well, strain into medium size wine-glass, and fill balance with soda water. Given the number of gin, vermouth and absinthe cocktails in the Savoy and the fact that the first of the these two contains just a dash of absinthe, I have focused here on the second. It is also similar to the Absinthe Special Cocktail with the main difference being the soda. I thought it would be interesting to see what the soda brings to the drink. I made the Nineteen-Twenty Pick-Me-Up using Gloag's Gin (no longer available) from the makers of The Famous Grouse and an absinthe that was directly hit by the US ban on absinthe: Butterfly Absinthe (more of this later).
This 1920 Pick-Me-Up was strong and refreshing (maybe an unusual combination) and the citrus notes in Butterfly worked well with the gin. This style of cocktail maybe doesn't have the immediate appeal of some modern cocktails but when I close my eyes and sip it, it does indeed feel like the kind of cocktail one could easily have enjoyed at the Savoy in 1930. The original makers of Butterfly, P. Dempsey of Merrimac Street, Boston, were of course directly affected by prohibition. Patrick Dempsey's son, George, was the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Wholesale Liquor Dealers Association of America (try putting that on a business card) and he presented this paper in 1908.
Sadly the efforts of George Dempsey and others were unsuccessful: his absinthe, Butterfly, the only American absinthe for which a bottle and recipe survive, disappeared after 1912 and his distillery closed in 1920 to become, eventually, a car park (a very profitable business in Boston!). Butterfly Absinthe returned to the USA in autumn 2013 and is now made in Switzerland by a former moonshiner. UK mixologists have had a head start on Butterfly, with some great cocktails already created at the Worship Street Whistling Shop and at One Leicester Street. But the most interesting cocktail I have enjoyed with Butterfly takes me back to India (where this post started). London's Indian restaurant, Gymkhana, which opened in September 2013 to some stunning reviews, offers a Flutterby Lassi (created for them by Fluid Movement's Jon Lister who also created the absinthe cocktails enjoyed here in 2012). A lassi is an Indian drink (usually non-alcoholic) with a yoghurt base that is consumed at the end of a meal to ease digestion. The Flutterby Lassi is offered as a digestif and is made as follows:-
FLUTTERBY LASSI 3 dill sprigs 2cm piece cucumber, peeled 35 ml Butterfly absinthe 10ml lime juice 20ml gomme 50ml yoghurt
Muddle the dill and cucumber and pour all the other ingredients into shaker.
Shake and double strain.
Serve in a port wine glass and garnish with a scrolled skin of cucumber and a sprig of dill. The Flutterby made it onto national British TV, into the Evening Standard's list of London's best cocktails and into several other national newspapers. City AM called the Flutterby a "cultural gem." The combination of Butterfly (which I consider a digestif-style absinthe) with yoghurt works amazingly well, and the dill and cucumber topped it off perfectly. A great well-balanced taste, refreshing with a smooth creamy mouth-feel (but not at all like a cream liqueur). Despite having a large measure of absinthe in, this is the first absinthe cocktail that my wife has really liked, and even requested again and again (see below).
Great to see a wonderful absinthe cocktail coming from an Indian restaurant of all places. India has some of the strictest alcohol laws in the world, including prohibition in many areas. Butterfly was created by an American company that fought prohibition and lost, and is now made by a Swiss company that was started as a direct result of and response to prohibition. So in every respect, the Flutterby Lassi is a very appropriate way to celebrate the 80th anniversary of repeal in the USA. Cheers! Santé! अच्छी सेहत!
In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is setting earlier, the kids are going back to school, and in the USA it will soon be Labor Day and the tailgating season.
So that means it's time to explore beer and, in particular, a Guinness and absinthe mix that was created a couple of years ago by my importer in Malaysia, Tong Woh (also a major local wholesaler for beers). The Hulk, a half pint of Guinness with a measure of La Clandestine Absinthe sunk or poured into it, sounds like it was originally created for St. Patrick's Day events, but it first emerged in May 2009 at the Wabisabi Yakatori in Kuala Lumpur (apparently now closed, although that has nothing to do with the drinks they offered!).
The Hulk is a recent addition to drinks such as the Irish Car Bomb (originally Stout, Irish Whiskey and Coffee Liqueur) that probably sound worse than they are. The Hulk may not be a cocktail that you would want to sip on a romantic night out or when trying to impress. But at the right time and place, and with the right company, the Hulk is definitely worth trying. At least once.
Interesting to note that the Examiner has also recommended a variation of this: the Davis Diesel mixing cider and Guinness. Maybe a step too far?
Brian Robinson, Review Editor of the Wormwood Society and guest blogger right here a few times, agreed to take a Hulk for the team. As a sometime rugby player, he insisted on going for the full pint down in one: a technique not recommended for date night. Enjoy the video! Sláinte!
"Ranked #1 in the Nation in Liver Transplants?" Yes, that's the sign at New Orleans Airport. We can't claim we weren't warned!
"New Orleans has always been the centre of absinthe culture in the United States." (Source: The Absinthe Encyclopedia). That sounds more like it.
New Orleans: the home of Tales of the Cocktail, probably the world's biggest event for bartenders, drinks brand ambassadors and owners, and anyone else who is interested in cocktails. The word "probably" may not be needed there.
Yet after more than 20 years in the drinks business and after nearly nine years promoting absinthe, 2013 sees my first visit to Tales and my first visit to New Orleans. And for my first visit, I'm privileged to have been chosen to run a seminar in front of 170 people who probably know a whole lot more about cocktails than me. Luckily I will have help for that!
MONDAY
I arrive in New Orleans a full three days before our seminar, because I want to absorb the atmosphere, see some of the bars (especially those selling absinthe), and attend a couple of other seminars to see how the more experienced Tales presenters handle the event.
I start slowly.
The Old Absinthe House is about 100 yards from my hotel (the Monteleone) and I don't want to exert myself in the legendary New Orleans July heat and humidity. I'm pleased to say it was hotter in both New York and in London, and NOLA had nothing like the humidity I experienced living in South East Asia.
Absinthe fans have been rather dismissive about the Old Absinthe House which apparently has a record of burning absinthe. I came back here several times during my stay, and I didn't have or see a single burnt absinthe all week. The range available is not enormous, but there are two or three higher quality absinthes ...
As well as the classic drip, the Old Absinthe House offers absinthe cocktails, including the Absinthe Frappé that was created here.
but I decided to have my first NOLA Absinthe Frappé at one of the most famous mixology bars in New Orleans: Cure.
A great bar with wonderful cocktails and a good selection range of quality absinthes: La Clandestine, Vieux Pontarlier, Nouvelle Orleans and Ridge Blanche.
TUESDAY
A working day, finalising my presentation. Later I had my first Sazerac in NOLA at Sainte Marie. Made with Herbsaint as seems to be the norm in New Orleans.
Later that evening we went to the Copper Monkey Grill in the French Quarter. Quite a big range of absinthes including La Clandestine, Nouvelle Orleans, Lucid and Kübler. They also carry Grande Absente, Mata Hari, and La Fée. Classic drip used.
WEDNESDAY
The first day of Tales, so I attended a couple of seminars, mainly to learn from other presenters how they managed the combination of entertainment and content. The Art and Philosophy of Hospitality had a star-studded cast, led by Jacob Briars. The cast were both entertaining and very interesting, and I saw a lot of notes taken by the audience. Midnight in Paris: Cocktails of the lost generation closely ressembled the theme of my seminar, and I enjoyed seeing how Philip Greene made the seminar highly relevant to a bartender audience AND interesting to a student of Hemingway and Paris.
In between these two seminars, I had a very liquid lunch with some customers at Stanley. Since the 1900's Butterfly Absinthe is on the page facing New Orleans in the Absinthe Encyclopedia, this was a fitting place to break open one of the first US-legal bottles of the re-launched Butterfly (now made in Switzerland),
as well as the very interesting barrel-aged version of La Clandestine (not yet legally available in the USA).
Wednesday evening: no bars visited. I was inspired by the seminars I had seen to amend our own presentation, so had too much work to venture out. Or maybe I went out for a quick drink at the Old Absinthe House? Much of this week has become a blur when looked at two weeks later, so maybe I did ..
THURSDAY
More than 8 months after submitting our seminar proposal to Tales of the Cocktail, the day to deliver it had finally arrived. Hundreds of emails, Facebook messages, texts, conversations, and meetings; hundreds of hours of research; all would all come down to 90 minutes that afternoon. And I was doing just one seminar. Imagine all the work done by Ann Tuennerman and her team at Tales to put on more than 50 seminars and hundreds of other events..
But first one more seminar to watch: Modifiers: Eternal Life for Cocktails, led by the irrepressible Philip Duff, followed by the Indie Spirits that Rock mini-exhibition. How strange to run into Simon Difford here, and to have the opportunity to discuss my absinthe with him briefly: we'd both had to fly in from London to meet up in NOLA! And, of course, that's what makes Tales so special: the meetings planned and unplanned with colleagues, customers, and competitors: I met customers - and prospects - from all over the USA and the UK at Tales (and from a few other countries I won't reveal here since my competitors may be reading).
The Blackthorn is one of several Savoy absinthe cocktails I had not tasted before: the ingredients worked well together.
The ATTY and the Jeyplak are just two of many absinthe cocktails from the Savoy that also have gin and vermouth. The addition of Creme de Violette in the former enhanced the cocktail from both taste and visual standpoints, and hopefully inspired the audience to think again about many of the cocktails in the Savoy: as fresh and original today as they were 83 years ago.
Some of my readers will know that our seminar was sponsored by Pernod as well as by Plymouth Gin and Drink Up New York. I told our audience that Harry Craddock didn't make as much use of lemon/lime juice with absinthe as he could have. Modern mixologists agree with both Pernod and La Clandestine in making some great cocktails with absinthe, lime juice and sugar or simple syrup.
Talking of which, it was nearly time to let my hair down and celebrate the completion of our seminar and turn to some refreshments. But firstly I had the opportunity - and the pleasure - to meet and share a drink or two with César Giron, Mathieu Sabbagh and Anne-Louise Marquis of Pernod, along with Brian Robinson, Review Editor of the Wormwood Society and Maxwell Britten from Maison Premiere, probably the best absinthe bar in the USA.
Brian and I tasted the "Original Recipe" Pernod Absinthe; the Pernod team tasted La Clandestine.
As others have commented elsewhere, Tales is the type of event where one puts aside all competitor issues, so it was good to put faces to names and to have a good chat and share drinks with the team at Pernod. Santé!
Not too sure about what happened later that evening. It definitely included a visit to the Carousel Bar at The Monteleone and the Old Absinthe House ...
FRIDAY
My last working day in NOLA, and two more very interesting seminars.
Grape's gaint leap towards immortality featured a stellar cast, while Camper English presented Water World: Water in Spirits and Drinks by himself. I had mistakenly thinking that a seminar on water would give me a chance to "dry out," but walked into the seminar room to find a 4.5 oz glass of Bowmore Single Malt in front of each place! Oh well, duty calls ...
Between seminars, I went to Cane and Table (at the old site of Pravda), and owned by the owners of Cure, featuring a pop-up bar operated by the team at Dead Rabbit, NYC. I had had the opportunity to go to Dead Rabbit twice the previous week and loved it: so it was great to meet new/old friends again. The Dead Rabbit would go on to deservedly win several awards at the Spirited Awards dinner the following night. Cane and Table currently stocks Pernod, while Dead Rabbit NYC stocks Pernod, La Clandestine, Duplais Verte, Vieux Pontarlier, Kubler, Lucid and Nouvelle Orleans.
Nice to see that they can get some great theatre into absinthe without resorting to fire. Pirate's Alley stocks a good range including La Clandestine, Kubler and Lucid, and prices are very reasonable.
For my last evening in New Orleans, I joined Brian Robinson, Kris (also from the Wormwood Society) and Chrissie, and later Ted Breaux and Jenny Gardener for a tour of famous bars. We started at the Roosevelt,
Creativity is very much alive here: we enjoyed a bucket of pre-mixed, carbonated Sazeracs. Cheryl tells me that the Sazeracs are "CO2 carbonated Perlini Sazeracs in 1960s - 1970s Coca-Cola bottles dug up in the grounds of NOLA. It took several cleanings and sanitizing to get them ready for the Sazeracs!"
Bourbon-O only carries Lucid "in honor of Ted (Breaux)'s hard work and money getting it into the US." So it was good to enjoy Bourbon-O with Ted himself.
Cheers, Cheryl!
We headed back along the famous Bourbon Street
to the Monteleone's famous Carousel Bar. Photos don't really do this justice: I enjoyed this time lapse video (a 360 degree trip in fact takes 15 minutes):
We enjoyed Macallan and some more barrel-aged absinthe, and I thought briefly about packing for my early departure the next morning. And had another drink ...
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So that was my working week in NOLA. Delta seemed determined to extend my stay in the USA, so I returned from NOLA via Nashville, Atlanta and JFK to Heathrow. My suitcase took another 3 day holiday in Boston. Maybe we just couldn't bear to leave.
NOLA and Tales were amazing. The best experience of my 24 years in the drinks business in a great city with wonderful food and even better company. People I had never met before became life-long friends. And the Tales team from Ann and Paul, the full-time staff and then the Apprentices: all played their part in making the event unforgettable.
And the absinthe in NOLA? Lucid, Nouvelle Orleans and La Clandestine were in most of the bars I visited, although some of the more traditional bars prefer to serve Herbsaint. There is nothing like the element of burning absinthes that I had been led to believe. Maybe the battle to get good absinthes served correctly has nearly been won in NOLA.
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