A TALE OF TALES TO TELL!
Tales of the Cocktail 2009
by Rob Husted
When I first heard about Tales of the Cocktail it was two years ago from Brian Loukmas and he kept ranting and raving on the cocktail event and how I cannot miss next year. When the event came around the following year… wouldn’t you know it, something came up. Flair Bartenders Shakedown 2008. With Tales of the Cocktail 2009 rolling around the corner… I promised myself I would not miss this event this year again.
I researched the event more online and reached out to the organizers for Flairbar.com to become a media partner for the event. With all of our loyal readers like you behind our online magazine each year, it took little convincing. With that said I booked our flights, hotel and seminars and it was off to New Orleans.
When the host of the “Flairbar.com Show” Ben Rose and myself landed we went straight to the Marriott hotel to check in and drop half our luggage off. Then we went back downstairs, hopped in a cab and asked the driver to take us to the “Monteleone Hotel”. This was the main hotel where Tales of the Cocktail 2009 was taking place and the location of our second room. The driver looked at us funny for a moment, smiled and proceeded to drive for about 20 seconds before stopping and saying “That would be $20.00 please…”. Not realizing our two hotels were just a block away, we laughed for a moment and brought our luggage in and checked in to our second hotel room. Once we got inside our room, we immediately proceeded to dismantle the bed and empty the contents of the room into the closet. Set up a green screen and the put together the set for the “Flairbar.com Show”. When Ben and I were down we stepped back and smiled. Having our own studio inside the host hotel for Tales of the Cocktail 2009 was going to be a blast and a genius idea.
Then we headed down to the carousel bar in the lobby and met up with Brian Loukmas. We soon realized it was called the carousel bar because the bartop and immediate seats around the bar rotated in a counter-clockwise motion. Great if you actually have a seat at this busy bar, but if you were one of the unlucky patrons standing behind your friends sitting down at the bar… you kept finding yourself doing the “Carousel Shuffle” in a counter-clockwise motion to keep in the conversation before you got left behind.
After some great drinks, we headed out for our first of many drink destinations that week. This one being an event for B&B liquor. It was great, the venue themed out and was redecorated complete with the bartenders all wearing monk outfits. This is where we met Ludovic Miazga International Ambassador for Noilly Pratt and one hell of a great guy full of life. We also met Robert Hess from Drinkboy and Jamie Boudreau. The cool thing about this event was they had different stations set up where you had to go from station to station to complete different tasks to try the different drinks. A concept I always loved at these kinds of events and it was nice to see it executed so well.
After many drinks and hours later, it was back to the Carousel Bar where we met up with Ava Kopieczek and Cheryl Charming from misscharming.com as she was showcasing her charming jewelry for all at the bar. Thanks again Cheryl for the jewelry… now I just have to find someone special to give them to. Lol. For more info on Miss Charming’s Jewelry, check out our “Barware” page. Then it was off to bed to get up early for the next days many seminars.
The alarm clock from my new iPhone was an alarming sound early in the morning as we got up, got dressed and headed over to the seminars. Being part of the press definitely had its advantages, as we were able to skip the line and head straight in to set up in the front row. Our first seminar was “A Special Relationship: Running your bar with the help of consultants, sales reps and brand ambassadors” moderated by long time contributor to Flairbar.com… Philip Duff. It was great seeing old friends and learning a lot from the many, many, many diverse seminars. Still have to say, I would love a rematch fromTony Abou' Ganim for the fresh limejuice vs Finest Call Lime juice relay. Lol.
Then we went up to the Media room for a quick lunch provided by Preiss Imports where we met Henry Preiss and Matteo Luxardo. After the days seminars, Henry and Matteo came down to the Flairbar.com studio where we had a nice video interview of them both and learned a lot about Luxardo and the Singapore Sling. Afterwards it was off to dinner with our new friends Ludovic from the B&B party the night before, Merlin Griffiths from Bombay Sapphire, Ava and Brian Loukmas to the Palace Café. Very slow on getting the drinks out, disappointing watermelon gazpacho but great Bananas Fosters for desert.
Then it was off to the Bacardi Party that night where DJ AM and DJ Jazzy Jeff were spinning live part of the Bacardi BLive Tour. Upstairs in the VIP lounge, it was almost impossible to get a drink. One bartender behind the bar stressed out with making mojitos most have gotten the best of him, so we went to the main room to enjoy the concert and get some drinks. Afterwards we went back up to the VIP lounge where they had a fresh fruit market of sorts where you picked some ingredients and the Mixologists made you fresh drinks with your selection. This was cool and the drinks were good. I loved my Bacardi Ginger Mango Cilantro cocktail even if I had to wait thirty minutes in line for it!
Then it was back to Bourbon Street where we met up with Ava’s mom and I got acquainted to “Pat O’Brians” and the home of the original Hurricane cocktail. To bad over the years they switched to a prefab mix that just tasted horrible. Oh well… off to the next bar… and the next bar was the “Dungeon”. Big thanks to ________ who we met at the Carousel Bar the day before for recommending this place. It reminded me of the infamous “Double Down” in Las Vegas but with some Halloween decorations hung about. It’s the kind of place where you have to know somebody to get in and they stay open all morning. That is until you get kicked out for taking pictures… oh well I’ll just blame it on the Al.. Al.. Al.. Alcohol. Lol.
The next morning came a little earlier then the previous day it seemed. The seminars were again informative and interesting. My favorite one of the day was "Mixologists and their toys".We met up with Jim Barnett from Finest Call as he sat down with us in the Flairbar.com studio where he prepared some Absolut Finest Call Bloody Marys. Nice! Then it was off to see an old friend… Tobin Ellis at his spirited dinner. As soon as we walked in the venue was packed with cocktail celebrities from Dale DeGroff to Cheryl Charming. We also met up with the organizers of Tales of the Cocktail 2009 Ann and Paul Tuennerman where they sat down with our cameras in between courses. This was also the time I asked Ava’s mom for permission to marry her daughter as I dropped down to one knee and proposed in front of everybody… What… I thought it was funny?
After an amazing dinner and even better drinks, Tobin met us back at the Flairbar.com studio for his interview with Ben Rose for the Flairbar.com Show. That was one of my favorites interviews of the trip… we talked about a lot of topics and eye opening concerns that we learned from our trip to Tales of the Cocktail 2009. Afterwards it was off to the Beam Global Party where we helped celebrate Phil Raimondo’s birthday while he and longtime contributor to Flairbar.com Bobby G where preparing fantastic drinks again at the VIP bar complete with a half naked woman inside the glass at the base of the bar.
After many, many more cocktails it was back on the chartered bus where MC Ben Rose entertained us all on the microphone on the way back to the Hotel. Once we got back we went to the “Absinthe House” where we ran into friends John Lermayer and Christian Sanders from the “Florida Room” in Miami. Then we hopped into a cab with our drinks and the quote of the trip was uttered from Kristen Schaefer to our cab driver on the way to the next bar… “Would you like some beer?” as she handed him her beer as he was driving us all to the next bar. Oh well… that’s how the cabbies in New Orleans roll I guess. Lol good times!
The next morning we played hooky and missed our first seminar and went straight to the Flairbar.com studio to interview Phil Raimondo from Beam Global and then lunch afterwards where apparently everybody else got their food but me? So what did the cute bartender do to make my experience better… offer oral sex what else? Regretfully I declined and it was back to the seminars. My favorite one of the day was "Using blogs and online tools to promote your bar, brand or career".After the day’s seminars, Danny Devito was promoting his wine at the “Carousel Bar” for the “Fatman & Chef” radio show. Ben Rose played cameraman and got some nice shots.
Then it was off to the USBG Leblon Caipirinha Competition where we saw another old friend Flairbar.com August 2007 Interview Corey Jansen. The big winners of the event were Tobin Ellis and John Hogan with their team from the Nevada chapter of the USBG. Congrats brother… you made Flair bartenders all around the globe proud!
Then it was off to the Grey Goose party where Dimi Lezinska Global Brand Ambassador Francois Thibault Maitre De Chai were great hosts and got us an early seat into the Grey Goose tasting in complete darkness. Afterwards it was back to the bar where we saw Simon Ford from Plymouth Gin Flairing his water bottle… Great stuff my friend!
Again waking up to the alarm on my iPhone came too early. Off to more seminars and my favorite of the day was "Innovation". Then we met up with Absolut Top Bartender runner-up Graham Kimura who now represents 360 Vodka for his Flairbar.com Show interview with Ben Rose. After wards we headed to the Tales of the Cocktail Awards show, which reminded me, something reminiscent of the Oscars and then off to dinner with Brain and Ava. Then after that we headed to the Pernod Ricard party that night where having press passes came in real handy as we walked right into the event and grabbed our friend Corey Jansen from waiting in line as well. Once inside we met up with old and new friends alike and ran into our friend Rudy Aguero from Absolut Vodka and had a nice interview with him and Graham Kimura. Shortly after that, the rest of the night was a blur. Great pictures though! Lol.
The next day we pretty much took off from the seminars and knocked out a bunch of interviews fro the Flairbar.com Show with host Ben Rose. Phil Raimondo, Bobby G, Philip Duff, Tony Abou' Ganim, Simon Ford, Cheryl Charming, Brian Loukmas, etc… The nighttime rolled around and it was off to one of the oldest bars in America where Ben Rose got in the middle of an all girl birthday party and started the party off right doing what he does so well. The rest of the night we went bar hopping on Bourbon Street from Gay bars, walk-up Hand Grenade windows to Strip clubs. A great finale for a long week of work. The hotel bed never felt so good that night ;-)
I have to say Thank you to Brian Loukmas for convincing me attend this marvelous event. Ann and Paul Tuennerman for being incredible hosts to us and all the media fro Tales of the Cocktail 2009, all of our guests from the Flairbar.com Show with Ben Rose and all of our old and new friends we met at Tales of the Cocktail 2009. You better believe we will be back next year… as so should you! Feel free to check out some of the video interviews from the Flairbar.com Show with Ben Rose from Tales of the Cocktail 2009 below.
Cheers!
To Flair and Friends...
ROB HUSTED
