The Spirit World

The week we spent in New Orleans last month was our first full week away from our distillery since we opened in 2005. Needless to say, there was tons of catchup to do once we got back from Tales of the Cocktail, and we were exhausted (in a good way). Now that I’m finally back […]

As noted in Part I of this article, the Stony Brook Center for Wine, Food & Culture, along with the New York State Grape & Wine Foundation and the Long Island Wine Council, hosted a two-day Symposium on the Art of Balance: Cool Climate/Maritime Wines in a Global Context.
Building on the momentum established the previous day, […]

For the past week, the Long Island wine region (New York, USA) has played host to an international cast of winemakers. Hailing from as far away as Spain, Italy and France to as close as upstate New York, these winemakers came to share their perspectives on producing wine in a cool, maritime climate.
Their visit was sparked by […]

Alright childrens, gather ’round, cause its story time. Once upon a time people went to this mystical land called New Orleans…….and I forgot the rest, because I DRANK IT. Man, Tales was amazing.
When we arrived, I noted one thing: its like a D&D convention for drunks. So many wonderful nerds all in one place at […]

Artisan spirits are very much on the agenda for Tales of the Cocktail attendees. Distillers of hand-crafted, low-volume gins vodkas, liqueurs and other spirits rub shoulders here with innovative bartenders who value artisan spirits as ingredients in their original cocktail creations. You’ll even find distributors who are willing to work to get those products onto […]

Calling New Orleans a good place to hold a cocktail convention is a little like suggesting that the folks who make slot machine might want to meet up in Vegas. Can you say “duh?”
Here in the Big Easy, where go cups on Bourbon Street, and festive dining everywhere are  the rule, the sixth annual Tales […]

Very soon, cocktail geeks from around the world are convening in New Orleans for the sixth annual Tales of the Cocktail. As mentioned in earlier posts, July means its time for the annual celebration of all things cocktail and spirit, held in the birthplace of American cocktails. I’m so excited to be attending this year!
If […]

For classic cocktail fans like me, Crème Yvette is one of the many ingredients we wish we could find. It’s been defunct in the U.S. since the late 1960’s or so, when Charles Jacquin et Cie stopped production. Thankfully, we have other violette liqueur options to use now, but almost no one has tasted the […]

Wine Hotels Collection is the first exclusive club of Wine Hotels & Wine Resorts in the world. Wine Hotels Collection was created in order to reunite wine hotels of high quality, where each member has to fulfill norms of service of quality,  paying attention to each detail, architecture, decoration, etc. A club in effect that helps wine […]

If you’re not a captain of industry or you don’t have celebrity status, then you might want to check out my Artists Picks, great moderately priced wines under $10. I’ll be reviewing a different wine in each post, describing the terroir, region and providing tasting notes.
The Douro Valley in Portugal is a spectacular landscape of […]