San Francisco Chronicle:
The cocktail divide: West Coast and East Coast cocktail cultures couldn't be more different - right?
The cocktail divide: West Coast and East Coast cocktail cultures couldn't be more different - right?
Like true sons and daughters of the hippie generation, the young bartenders of San Francisco tend toward organic cocktails filled with homegrown this and hand-fed that. Their creative juices are sweetened only with the pure agave nectar.(more...)

Wall Street Journal:
No kidding, it's good.
Loretta Lynn's 2004 disc, "Van Lear Rose," was a remarkably modern-sounding record for the country-music veteran, thanks to the production and guitar-work of the White Stripes' Jack White. But for all the fashionably zitherish keening of the guitars, the CD's most popular song starts off with a paean to an anachronistic drink. "Well, Portland Oregon and Sloe Gin Fizz," sings the coal miner's daughter, "if that ain't love then tell me what is."(more...)

Concierge.com:
Tales of the Cocktail 2008
Tales of the Cocktail is creeping up, and tickets are still available for the New Orleans food and drink (or, rather, drink and food) festival.(more...)

News Tribune:
Brazilian cocktail Caipirinha catches on.
For 21 years I’ve watched this lovely little cocktail coyly circle the bar hoping to be noticed. When you marry a Brazilian, the potent lime and sugar cane cocktail automatically becomes the house drink. But it’s only in the last year or two that the caipirinha has been showing up on local bar menus.(more...)

STLtoday.com:
KC pub crawl proves illuminating.
An Irish lass jigged on a tabletop. A cowgirl in a black bra danced on a bar. At the club next door, guys and girls with spiked hair and inked bodies writhed to a pulsating techno beat.(more...)

Examiner.com:
Meet your mixologist.
his week, everyone here at Team Cocktail is a little sweet on bartender Robert Schramm. He keeps the masses happy at Slide, the former speakeasy so named because you can actually take a slide from the second level to the first. (more...)

On June 24th, the Museum of the American Cocktail displayed an exhibit of cocktail menus and memorabilia at the RumFest Rum and Rhythm Celebration, which was part of a larger event, the First Annual Caribbean Tourism Summit.  The Summit was held in the International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., and featured exhibits, cuisine, presentations, seminars, a silent auction, live music and dancing, all with the theme of the islands of the Caribbean, tourism, and trade promotion.  Many Caribbean nations were represented, as were many of their excellent rum producers, including Martinique, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Bermuda, Anguilla, Curacao, and several others.  Several hundred people were in attendance.

Phil Greene represented the Museum with a portion of his menu and memorabilia collection, offering about 35 priceless examples of 1930s, '40s, '50s, and '60s era menus, booklets, bar guides, matchbooks, coasters, and other memorabilia, including a 1940's copy of the Trader Vic Bartender's Guide, a 1941 menu from Don the Beachcomber, two 1930's menu/booklets from La Floridita in Havana, several items from the Roosevelt Hotel and Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans, and many, many others.  Phil plans to incorporate several items from his collection into the live exhibit in New Orleans, as well as make all of them available for viewing as part of a virtual exhibit on the Museum's Web site.

Phil’s participation in the Carribean Tourism Summit was courtesy of Dori Bryant and The Polished Palate™ (www.PolishedPalate.com), which did a tremendous job in staging the successful RumFest Rum and Rhythm Festival.

Shreveport Times:
More trouble for the 'official state cocktail.'
Some Louisiana legislators balk at naming the Sazerac the offical cocktail of the state. (more...)

Boston.com:
Mr. Cocktail?
When it comes to the art of bartending, Jackson Cannon sets the standard in Boston. (more...)

amNewYork:
Molecular cocktails' break into New York's nightlife.
Calcium chloride, carbon dioxide, liquid nitrogen -- you wouldn't expect the stuff that you played with in chemistry class to find its way into your evening cocktail. Yet creative mixologists around the city are using science to invent new drinks for their menus. (more...)

MetroMix:
Cocktails & (sepia-hued) Dreams
Clover Club's Julie Reiner serves swizzles, royales and other old-timey drinks to thirsty Brooklyn. (more...)

Examiner.com:
Meet Your Mixologist: Jackee Princeau
In a saloon town such as San Francisco, the bartender plays a crucial role. Confessor, friend, sounding board — the man or woman behind the plank sees to it that our needs are met with elegance, grace and often wit. (more...)

by Jill DeGroff
(http://www.SaloonArtist.com)

I've been in New Orleans for the past week helping Ted with the new exhibit for the Museum of the American Cocktail.  "It is part Museum, part bar, part Victorian bordello!" exclaims Curator Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh,  undoubtedly the PT Barnum of the cocktail world! "The story of the cocktail is really the story of American history in microcosm."

The new exhibit will be located inside the Southern Food & Beverage Museum at the Riverwallk Marketplace at 1 Poydras Street, a few blocks away form the French Quarter, and just next to the convention center. I am happy to report that the Riverwalk is buzzing with shoppers and tourists. It is also where the cruise ships come in so there are regularly large groups of tourists pouring in from the pier.

I have no doubt that the Museum will be a great success and that we will create an international hub of mixology here, while also spurring tourism back to the grand city of New Orleans. And when I say WE, I mean all of you- every single member and sponsor of MOTAC. So thank you again for your support!

Here are some pictures of the build out:

Ok, so no sooner had I posted the previous "artists rendering", then the artist in question (Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh... who also happens to be the museum's curator), sent me an updated rendering which closer matches what is planned for the entryway. Here it is:

And just to help you see how close things are to that... here is a photo of what the entry currently looks like, as well as the door that has been installed:

The dust is flying as construction is well underway for building out the new home of The Museum of the American Cocktail. What you see above is an artist rendering of what the main entry way should look like once construction is done. We’ll be posting more pictures here as things progress, but to give you an idea, the picture here on the right is the most recent one I was sent from the jobsite.

Anybody planning on attending this years “Tales of the Cocktail” (July 16-20th) should plan on staying on an extra day, and joining us at the Museum on Monday, July 21st where we will hold our official “Ribbon Cutting” ceremony at 10:30am.

Associated Press:
Organic alcohol sparks new cocktail trend.
Call it hedonistic environmentalism. Or maybe just eco-conscious imbibing. Either way, those who want their dirty martini to be a little cleaner are increasingly pouring organic spirits into their glass. (more...)

Washington Post:
A lighter way to mix it up.
Over the past year, there has been plenty of talk in bar and restaurant circles about wine-based cocktails. Some people in the industry have even coined the term "winetails," I guess mainly because people can't resist coining ridiculous terms. (more...)

Earthtimes:
Calling all bartenders! Do you have what it takes to compete?
Bartenders from across the nation will have the opportunity to compete to participate in the Cocktail World Cup in New Zealand. (more...)

London Telegraph:
Rebujito: the cocktail just what the doctor ordered.
Granted, this is not the most pressing issue facing the legislature, but still alive (though barely) is the proposal to name the Sazerac as the state's official cocktail. Early in the session the idea ran into flak from mostly upstate lawmakers who saw evil in giving sanction to an alcoholic drink. (more...)

South Mississippi Sun Herald :
Cocktail revolution rolls on.
Diageo survey shows Americans continue to value quality cocktails despite economic downturn, venue choice also shown to be critical. (more...)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Egg white cocktails going over easy.
As a habitual dieter, I've eaten more than my fair share of egg whites, but one thing I could never do was drink egg white protein shakes. Maybe it's because my mother feared salmonella poisoning and still fully cooked our eggs. Whatever the case, something about consuming raw eggs made me queasy - until a trip back east.. (more...)

I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic, a myth-buster. When I get a forwarded email from a “friend,” warning me about rat droppings on soda pop cans, or evil bandits who slash ankles at gas stations, or HIV-infected needles left on movie theatre seats, I’m going straight to Snopes.com or some other such site, and after figuring out the truth, I’ll set the sender (and recipients) straight.

Alas, it’s the same in the cocktail world, where there are as many myths as truths, as many stories on the origins of the Martini or the Sidecar as there are levels of liqueurs on a Nick Castrogiovani Pousse Café. So, a few years back, when I discovered that my own ancestor, my own ancestor, probably did not coin the term “cocktail” when he made the drink that became the Sazerac, even then I was compelled to come forward with the truth. I’ll never forget the words of the great, great New Orleans tour guide, my friend Joe Gendusa, upon meeting me for the first time. Speaking on behalf of all French Quarter guides, who adore the story of Antoine Peychaud and the coquetier, he said, “You have no idea how frightened of you we all are!”

Well, here’s another one for you, Joe......

Southern Comfort, that delicious peach-flavored bourbon (or is it a bourbon flavored peach liqueur? Whatever.) has long celebrated its New Orleans roots, and rightfully so. Legend has it that bartender Martin Wilkes Heron created Southern Comfort at McCauley’s Tavern in New Orleans. But what has been repeated time and again is a more specific rendering of this story, and that’s where you lose me, the part where they say that Southern Comfort was created at McCauley’s Tavern in the French Quarter.

It is often said that McCauley’s sat at the corner of St. Peter and Richard streets in the French Quarter. I’m a long-time New Orleans history buff, I’ve read the classic John Chase book, Frenchmen, Desire, Goodchildren a couple of times, I’ve pored over the Vieux Carré Survey many times, looking for the residences of my ancestors, I’ve worked with the Historic New Orleans Collection on reconciling 19th century Quarter street addresses with their current numbers, I know the nice and the mean streets of New Orleans, and I know I’ve never heard of a Richard Street in the Quarter! So, the first time I heard that tale, I got suspicious.

I knew that there was a Richard Street farther up the Mississippi River in New Orleans, in Uptown. If you go to that great local dive, The Half Moon Café, going out Magazine Street where it goes from one way to two, you’ll cross Richard. But Richard runs perpendicular to the River, as does St. Peter Street in the Quarter (which is home to Pat O’Brien’s, the Gumbo Shop, and Preservation Hall). How the hell could they intersect? I had a theory.

There is another street in the Quarter that plays a role. Back in the early 19th Century, you had a street that ran along the River in the Quarter, and because it ran along the levee, it was called, you guessed it, Levee. Levee is now known as Decatur, home to the French Market, Café du Monde, and Jax Brewery. But there was also a spur off of Levee called New Levee Street (hey, they can’t all have romantic names like Desire and Craps and Calliope). New Levee Street had its name changed over the years, and now goes by the name Peters. We’re getting close.

Like many streets in New Orleans (Claiborne comes to mind), depending on what part of town y’at, you’re either on North Peters, or South Peters. The part of Peters that begins in the Quarter, and follows the River out to Uptown, is South Peters, frequently abbreviated as “S. Peters.”

Folks, this isn’t The Da Vinci Code, you’ve figured it out already, right? McCauley’s Tavern had to be at the corner of South Peters and Richard. To confirm this, I made a visit to the Library of Congress, perusing the City Directories for New Orleans. The 1881 City Directory contains the following listing:

McCauley, Arthur, saloon, Richard, se cor S Peters

This is corroborated by the 1885 City Directory:

McCauley, Arthur, saloon, Peters, se cor Richard

In the parlance of the City Directories, it is telling us that the saloon sat at the southeast corner of South Peters and Richard. This would place McCauley’s Tavern roughly (very roughly) in the Lower Garden District/Irish Channel neck of the woods, actually a bit down river from those more familiar neighborhoods. Anyone pining for a pilgrimage to whatever rustic tavern now occupies that corner, alas, Google Earth suggests it’s an industrial zone now, perhaps no building sits at that corner, looks to be a factory or warehouse farther back on that parcel. Oh, well.

So, folks, although we can proudly proclaim that Southern Comfort was in fact born in The City That Care Forgot, New Orleans (or at least I have no reason to believe otherwise), it was not born in the French Quarter. And now the tour guides are gonna hate me even more.

Triple Crown anyone?

This Saturday is the running of the Belmont Stakes, the third and final leg in the Triple Crown. Big Brown first won the Kentucky Derby, and then the Preakness Stakes. So a win at Belmont this weekend would usher in the first Triple Crown win in 30 years.

To help you with your celebrations, we'd like to offer up a few well-themed cocktails. Enjoy!

Belmont Breeze
Original recipe by Dale DeGroff

• 1 1/2 ounces Makers Mark Bourbon
• 3/4 ounce Dry Sack
• 3/4 ounce Fresh Lemon Juice
• 3/4 ounce Simple Syrup
• 1 1/2 ounce Fresh Orange juice
• 1 1/2 ounce Ocean Spray Cranberry juice

Shake all ingredients with ice and top with half 7up and half soda, approximately one ounce of each.
Garnish with fresh strawberry, a mint sprig, and a lemon wedge.

 

Bluegrass
From Grace’s Restaurant, NYC

• 2 oz. Maker's Mark Bourbon
• 1/2 oz. Sweet Vermouth
• 1/2 oz.Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1/2 oz. Green Chartreuse
• Dash of Peychaud Bitters

Served Chilled Straight Up in a Sugared Martini Glass

 

Preakness Cocktail
From the International Cocktail Specialties by James Mayabb, Hearthside Press, Inc. 1962

• 2 oz. Bourbon
• 1/2 oz. Benedictine
• 1/2 oz. Sweet Vermouth
• Dash of Bitters

Shake well and strain into an chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

 

Grapefruit Julep
Original recipe by Dale DeGroff

• 1 1/2 ounces Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka
• 1/2 ounce honey syrup
• 1/2 ounce agave syrup
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 1 1/2 ounces fresh grapefruit juice
• 1 ounce POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice
• 2 mint sprigs

Bruise one mint sprig in the bottom of a mixing glass with the lime and honey syrup.
Add the juices, vodka and shake. Strain over crushed ice into a chilled highball glass. Garnish with the remaining mint.

 

Whiskey Peach Smash
Original recipe by Dale DeGroff

• 1 1/2 oz. of Woodford Reserve
• 4 small peach quarters
• 3 mint leaves and one sprig of mint for garnish
• 2 lemon wedges
• 1 oz. of Simple syrup

Muddle the mint leaves, simple syrup, lemon wedges and peach quarters in a bar glass. Add whiskey and shake with ice. Strain into an ice filled rocks glass and garnish with a sprig of mint and peach slice.

 

Aqueduct

• 1 1/2 oz. Finlandia Vodka
• 1/2 oz. Cointreau
• 1/2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Arizona Republic:
Herbs, vegetables infuse cocktails with adventure.
When Robert Plotkin heard that Scottsdale's Four Seasons was garnishing its caprese cocktail with mozzarella, he felt as if the upscale resort had jumped the shark. (more...)

Arizona Republic:
Incredible, edible cocktails.
In sensible slacks and a button down shirt, the clean-shaven Todd DeSilva doesn't look trendy. But the beverage director is actually on the cutting edge of a national nightlife movement: Edible cocktails. (more...)

Chicago Daily Herald:
Food finds its spirit mate at last - the hard stuff.
Cocktails and food have always gone together - just ask the folks who make a living from the sale of green olives, pickles, celery sticks, lemons, limes and those delicious little pearl onions. (more...)

Nola.com:
New Orleans may soon have an 'official' cocktail.
The idea of naming an alcoholic beverage as an official state symbol didn't sit well with most Louisiana state senators, who a few weeks ago voted down an attempt to make the Sazerac the official state cocktail. (more...)

Trinidad and Tobago Express:
UK bartender tops cocktail challenge.
Jamie Stephenson of Drinks International in the United Kingdom is the winner of the Angostura & Drinks International Global Cocktail Challenge. (more...)

Wednesday, June 11th at 5pm

Mayflower Hotel
Town and Country Lounge
1127 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone:  202-347-3000

The Washington Jack Rose Society cordially is holding their Fifth Annual "Cocktails for Cambodia" fundraising happy hour! This year the featured speaker will be Phil Greene, co-founder of the Museum of the American Cocktail. Phil will demonstrate how to make two of the most important and delicious mixed drinks of the 20th century, the Moscow Mule and the Ramos Gin Fizz, with an opportunity to enjoy these historical cocktails during and after his presentation.

This special event will raise funds for Sam Relief, a nonprofit agency that builds schools, digs wells, and provides food and medicine for poor children in Cambodia. The founder of Sam Relief is Sambonn Lek, who has become a legendary figure during his 30+ years behind the bar at the Mayflower. Every July Sam travels to Cambodia to personally deliver vital goods on behalf of his organization.

As shown in the picture below,in 2006, the Washington Jack Rose Society provided Sam Relief with enough funds to purchase 10 tons of rice for the Angkor Hospital for Children.

Anyone donating $75 will receive two of our world-famous old-fashioned glasses featuring the Society logo. They are a handsome addition to any home bar! Even if you don't drink, or if you can only stop by for a few minutes, please do come to Town & Country and join in the fun. The festivities will run from 5 pm until approximately 8 pm. Phil will give his demonstration around 6:30, depending on the flow of the crowd. We hope that you can be a part of this exciting occasion... Cheers!