Let me start this off by saying I mean absolutely no disrespect to Simon Difford. After all, he came up with this drink, which as you can see from the header, I think is pretty damn tasty. Plus, there’s all that assorted other work he does — researching and compiling lists of recipes, developing guides to watering holes around the globe, consulting on pretty much anything related to alcohol — which improves the lives of drink geeks like me to no end. No, my only quibble with Simon — a minor one, I’m sure you’ll agree — is with the name of this drink.

Before we get to that, though, let’s take a look at the cocktail. The recipe was conceived, I assume, during a burst of creativity inspired by the launch of St. Germain, the elderflower liqueur that seems destined to remain a staple of every quality bar for decades to come (see my writeup about St. Germain over at Serious Eats). This cocktail starts with the basic 4:1 Plymouth martini — a good first step in anyone’s book — then slides in the St. Germain to give the drink a fruity floral wallop. Then, turning to another ingredient that’s manna to vintage spirits freaks, Difford tips in a little creme de violette, which ups the floral aspect and really pushes the drink onto another plane. Zap it with some orange zest, and you’re set.

Of course, you could also look at this as a slight variation on the Attention (aka the Atty, aka the Arsenic and Old Lace), the gin-vermouth-violette-pastis-sometimes orange bitters combo that’s cropped up in a number of places lately, including on Simon’s site (as the Atty) and in the pages of the current issue of Imbibe (as the Attention). Swap the St. Germain for the pastis, use orange zest instead of bitters, tweak the proportions accordingly, and you’re there.

Every component of this cocktail has a floral aspect — from the botanicals in the gin and vermouth to the two liqueurs flavored and colored with flower petals, this drink comes straight from the garden. This is all to say that I understand how the name presented itself, and god knows it’s better than most anything I’d be likely to come up with … but still, I just can’t deal with the name.

Seeing as how so many bars are discovering St. Germain, and how many should be beating down their distributor’s doors to get a bottle of the Rothman & Winter Creme de Violette (currently available in New York, and very soon in California), I may actually have the opportunity to order one of these in a public establishment. Should that be the case, I may need to just have the recipe printed up on cards I can hand to the bartender. “What’s the name?” they’ll ask. “Ummm….” I’ll respond.

The Please-Don’t-Make-Me-Call-It the “Flower Power Martini” (a spectacular drink created by Simon Difford. Snarky comments about the name courtesy the obnoxious host of this establishment)

• 2 ounces Plymouth gin
• 1/2 ounce dry vermouth
• 1/2 ounce St. Germain
• 1/4 ounce creme de violette

Stir well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with strip of orange zest.

Tags: Drinks, Gin by Paul
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Following the Bacchanalian madness that was Tales of the Cocktail 2007, you’d think we’d all have had it for a while with organized cocktail events. But that old steam train known as Mixology Monday keeps chuggin’ along, and we have FIVE — count ‘em, FIVE — hosts lined up to participate. Old participant or newbie, here’s how you should plan your drinking for the rest of the year:

• MxMo XVIII is scheduled to take place Monday, August 13. Host this round will be Gwen at Intoxicated Zodiac Blog, and Gwen’s theme is Orange (actually, the origins of the theme are somewhat more complicated than that, but for the sake of simplicity and for making Darcy’s life easier when he crams the theme’s name in that little box, we’ll call it “Orange” — the rest, I’ll let Gwen explain). Juice? Triple Sec? Curacao? I’m sure some wag will go for orange bitters (I’m lookin’ at you, Michael) — hell, if you can use an orange twist and make it interesting, then you’ve got no reason not to join in. Head over to Gwen’s for details, and I’ll see you there August 13.

• MxMo XIX is scheduled for Monday, September 17. Host will be Gabriel at CocktailNerd. I’m awaiting confirmation on the theme, but knowing Gabriel’s site, it should be a good time. UPDATE: We’ve made contact, and Gabriel has picked: Fizz! Huzza! Champagne to cola, seltzer to ginger ale, if it bubbles it’s good at this last Mxmo of the (northern) summer.

• MxMo XX takes place Monday, October 15, and will be hosted by the excellent Natalie at The Liquid Muse. Natalie’s theme will be — hold on, it’s a good one — Pairings. That’s right! The MxMo crowd will be crowding into the foodie’s territory when we take on food and drink combos. I would have been slightly freaked out by this only a few months ago, but the magic of Chris DeBarr at the Delachaise put my mind at rest, so I’m ready to do battle in the kitchen and come up with a little something that goes well with a little something. Don’t cook? Don’t worry! This doesn’t have to be highbrow — if you have a nice combo you like to trot out at home, please share.

• MxMo XXI takes place Monday, November 12, and will be hosted by Jay at Oh, Gosh! Jay dismissed with the folderol and headed for the straight stuff: his theme will be Gin. And what’s not to like about that.

• Which takes us to the end of the year with MxMo XXII, on Monday, December 3. Hosting this round will be Jeffrey Morgenthaler, and the theme is — you guessed it — Repeal Day. Last year, Jeffrey created a major ruckus with his call to celebrate the anniversary of Prohibition’s repeal in the United States, and this round expect something bigger. More details to come from Jeffrey, but be prepared — this should be a humdinger.

So pack some extra gauze around your liver — the rest of the year is gonna be a wild ride.

Tags: Mixology Monday by Paul
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Of course, after an evening of absinthe, there’s no better way to get the day started than a late breakfast of absinthe.

So enthusiastic were the reviews of last year’s absinthe session with Ted Breaux that the organizers asked him back this year for a repeat performance. Since I covered that session the first time around and — aside from the recentish news about Lucid and other absinthes heading for the U.S. market — very little changed in the panel, I won’t go into much detail other than to point out that this year, Ted poured samples of the Clandestine blue and of the PF1901, the only Jade I had yet to try. Based on attendance, I wouldn’t be surprised if they asked him back for a third go around.

I still had a little time before I had to head for the airport, so I headed over to Harrah’s to catch the first annual Tales of the Cocktail Spirit Awards. In a hall dripping with Vegas glitz, presenters quickly ran through awards for some of the top-rated bars, bartenders, cocktail lists and brand ambassadors in the industry. I walked in late with Chuck and Wes, along with Murray Stenson and Kacy Fitch from Zig Zag Cafe, who’d flown in especially for the awards, and we wound up commandeering a table from Diageo and sitting right next to the stage. Almost immediately after we walked in, the award was given to Zig Zag for Best Classic Cocktail Bar, and Kacy had to literally climb up on stage, accept the award and give a presentation speech.

A couple of prizes later and the scene was repeated, when Zig Zag won the prize for Best Drinks Selection, and Kacy had to advance through the flying sequin lights for another stretch at the podium. Later, he was fairly cringing when Zig Zag recieved its other nomination — for Best Cocktail Menu — and Murray vacated the premises long before his nomination for Bartender of the Year was announced (the award went to Audrey Saunders, who had flown out earlier in the day).

All told, Zig Zag had four nominations and two wins, and Vessel racked up another Seattle nomination for Best New Cocktail Bar (the award went to Bourbon & Branch, in San Francisco).

I headed home as soon as the awards were completed, but it was with the satisfaction that my favorite local spot had received some national recognition. Congrats to Kacy, Ben and Murray for all their hard work. As soon as Tales becomes a more distant memory and my liver starts to shrink, I’ll have to start coming around again.

Tags: Events by Paul
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While I would have made it to Tales no matter what, Saturday morning was the main reason I attended: the “Cocktails and the Blogosphere” session, moderated by me. I felt that my “Lost Ingredients” presentation didn’t go so well, mainly because my lost samples meant I was flustered and had to improvise as I went, so I spent a lot of extra time working on the blog presentation to prevent a repeat. Fortunately, I had some great help from Chuck, Rick and Darcy, and when we started our presentation promptly at 9:57 — thanks to the task-master room manager with the fast-running watch — everything went smoothly (excepting, of course, the hotel’s Wi-fi, which refused to let me connect and hence kept me from showing the work of all the great bloggers out there. But, I kinda figured it would crash, so I can’t say I was that surprised).

I’d initially been concerned that at 10:00 on a Saturday morning, the size of our panel might be larger than that of the audience. Happily, we got up to around 25 folks for the session, which was more than I’d allowed myself to hope for, and about in line with what many other sessions were drawing. Any fears I had that we’d wind up with periods of awkward silence or with dead time to fill were easily assuaged by Chuck, who made his skills as a radio host apparent by taking the mike and verbally sauntering through the session, easy and confident. It really made my job much easier. Darcy and Rick, too, were very well prepared, and after each panelist had a chance to talk about what it was that prompted us to spend inordinate amounts of free time blogging about drinks, I realized I’d made the perfect choices for panelists, and couldn’t have asked for anything more. They really did a fantastic job.

After the panel, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and I was free to relax for the rest of my time at Tales. I made sure to catch the vermouth session hosted by Ted Haigh and Martin Douderoff, simply because I’m kinda weird about vermouth, and had the good fortune to bump into Jackson Cannon, bar manager at Eastern Standard in Boston, who’d come down just for the day, and who — ironically — I’d met during a vermouth excursion to Martini & Rossi in Turin, a little over a year ago.

In the afternoon came the event I’d really been anticipating: “Tiki Drinks, from A to Zombie,” hosted by my good friend, the Bum, and joined by Wayne Curtis and Stephen Remsberg. This was easily the best session of the week for me: the room was packed to the rafters with people, and Jeff gave a quick-moving, detailed, and hilarious summary of the mid-century Polynesian phenomenon he covers in his latest book, Sippin’ Safari. Wayne took us on a quick tour through the Mai Tai, and Stephen reprised his hilariously dry presentation style while covering the Last Rites. Shaking was handled by a cast of folks including Martin Cate from Forbidden Island, and the crowd really got into the vibe of the event. If you meant to come to Tales this year but couldn’t for some reason, this is the event you should really be kicking yourself for missing — Jeff and the gang blew the roof off the joint.

After that high point I just couldn’t bring myself to sit in a conference room any longer, so I strolled around the French Quarter with Darcy and Rick, stopping for gumbo and Pimms Cups at the Napoleon House, and relaxing in the fine afternoon.

In the evening, I was off to a group dinner at a restaurant I shouldn’t disclose. The reason? The dinner was organized by folks from the Wormwood Society, and the hosts had arranged for us to have a private dining room, replete with an absinthe fountain. Armed with bottles of Jade Edouard and Absinthe Marteau Vert Classique, we louched the evening away, backed with some of the finest food served in the city.

And that’s how I shall remember my final evening at Tales of the Cocktail 2007 — digging into a plate of flounder stuffed with crab, pondering if my refill should be Edouard or Marteau, and joined by some of the wonderful folks who’ve come to town to share this enthusiasm. What a lovely way to spend a weekend.

Tags: Events by Paul
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I’d meant to take it easy in New Orleans, I really did … but hanging out with Chris DeBarr and Darcy after the Spirited Dinner turned into lengthy episode, and when I woke up Friday, I was very much feeling it. Fortunately, I had an easy day planned.

After ingesting around 8,000 calories at a breakfast at Brennan’s — and I even skipped the Bananas Foster (though the mimosa helped set me on the right path) — I hustled back to the hotel to catch a panel called, “Enter the Distollogist.” Ted Breaux from Jade Liqueurs started the session, and amazingly, he barely mentioned absinthe. Instead, he covered a relatively new liqueur called Perique, made with an old style of American tobacco that’s hardly grown anymore. I’d heard a lot about this spirit, and was eager to try it — what I didn’t expect is that it would be so light in flavor. Ted explained this was due largely to the way the tobacco leaves were fermented in used bourbon barrels, and that the base spirit was an eau de vie de chenin blanc from the Loire Valley. The flavor of Perique was very gentle and intriguing, and it tasted kind of the way a good pipe tobacco smells (not the smoke — the actual tobacco). Breaux also explained that he’d had to tinker with the mechanics of nicotine, to keep the liqueur from being simply a nicotine delivery device.

LeNell Smothers then presented on her wrangle with distilleries and regulators in the process of acquiring and releasing LeNell’s Red Hook Rye. Given my taste for rye, I’d been especially interested in trying LeNell’s, and her description — single barrel, 23 years old, cask strength, unfiltered — made it even more irresistible, and I’m glad I got a taste before the session ended (now, I’ve just got to get a bottle, and I’m set.)

Before Ryan Magarian could get started on talking about Aviation gin, I also had the luck to taste a replica of Abbot’s Bitters, created by John Deragon and recently mentioned in the NY Times (John, if you’re out there — you probably didn’t know I tasted them, as I was just handed the bottle by the person I was sitting next to (I think it was Robert Hess, but I was kinda creaky that morning), and they’re damn fine. Thanks for all the work you put in).

After the panel I took a little stroll up Royal Street to La Maison d’ Absinthe, where I picked up a couple of absinthe glasses to take home, then I stocked up on Sazerac rye and New Orleans Amber rum.

In the afternoon, I sat in on the session on Prohibition’s Shadow, which was a rambling discussion between Ted Haigh, Robert Hess and David Wondrich on what Prohibition and the temperance movement did to the state of the cocktail, with ample time to wander into the world of Canadian whisky, which was covered by John Hall of Forty Creek.

I was pretty much sessioned out by this point, so I grabbed a Sazerac in the Carousel Bar, chatted with the folks from Boston, then retired to work on my presentation for the morning. After a three-hour pause to have dinner at Stella with Karen Foley and Kate Darling, the wonderful folks from Imbibe, I spent the rest of the evening in solitary, working up my notes so I wouldn’t sound like a fool during the cocktail blog session.

And that’s where Friday was supposed to end — except it didn’t. At midnight, keyed up from working most of the evening, I decided to have a nightcap before turning in early. After picking up a Sazerac the size of a birdbath at the Carousel, I parked myself in the lobby with Chuck Taggart & Wes, Rick Stutz and Darcy O’Neill. While we were chatting about the upcoming panel, Eric Seed approaches and asks, “Did I mention I’m working on a Pimento Dram? Wanna taste?” Well, yeah, of course. Eric pauses — “I’ll just bring down the whole medicine kit, okay?”

And thus began an episode that lasted until 2:30, as we took over an empty conference room and worked our way through virtually all of Haus Alpenz‘ product line, current and future. The Blumen Marillen apricot eau de vie was bracing and gentle, and the Williams pear eau de vie had a fresh fruit taste unparalleled by any other eau de vie I’ve encountered. We also tasted liqueurs made with each of these brandies (and may have discovered a new favorite apricot liqueur for mixing), as well as a beautifully complex nocino, samples of 100-proof Batavia arrack and a Swedish punch made from same, and an artemisia liqueur that had such a pronounced bitterness that I could still taste it two minutes after swallowing the sample.

With our panel only a few hours away, we finally bailed on the impromptu tasting to get some rest. And I was supposed to be taking it easy.

Tags: Events by Paul
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