The picture parade from this years tastings at the Tales of the Cocktail continues! i had to break it up in two posts, there´s simply too much..
The hard part when you do all these tastings is to remember everything..because there`s a LOT! I won`t even be able to blog about it all – but the meaning with these posts about the tastings (and the seminars) is to give those who haven´t been to Tales a picture of what it looks like – plus show some about what things i liked the most from those i went to which are just a very small part of all that was going on.
I don´t know really how to describe it…the sounds of all the people, the shakers, all the booze, the running back and forth between places in the heat outside, the quick chatting with people you meet on the way to the next seminar or tasting.
Or the long in-depth discussions about some obscure cocktail or booze related topic with your fellow booze nerds, the joy and surprise when you discover something new and really exciting, the crowds….it all carries that special feeling and it needs to be experienced in person.
So here´s some more pictures from the tastings:
One of the most interesting tasting i went to was Jade Liqueurs & Combier USA at the Windsor Court Hotel where we could taste the whole portfolio of Jade liqueurs absinthes and Combier´s traditional liqueurs.
On top of that, and here`s what i found really exciting, was Ted Breaux`s own homemade pre prohibition bitters and syrups – and these were not the ordinary….these blew my mind!
These were made from old pre-prohibition recioes and were presented in stunning ancient looking glass bottles. First time i ever heard of and tried something like “blood-liver syrup” – it was used during the victorian era and cured “everything” and was mostly used by the ladies.
It tasted strong, herbal and rooty – very interesting!
Then we had the Jamaican ginger bitter…oh my…it contains 90% alcohol so one drop was enough! They drunk this concoction during the pre-prohibition era in Jamaica and of course it “cured everything”! – but after i tried it i actually have no doubt…
It is VERY strong and after the alcohol settles there´s an explosion of ginger flavors that knock your socks off!
Jamaican Ginger Bitters
I also tried quinine bitters which was very astringent, woody and rooty, Damiana bitters which was used by men for “strength”, Ayer´s sarsaparilla bitters which were rooty and woody and then i tried something he called “Old Velvet” which was a simple syrup with acacia gum or gomme which is very different from the common gomme syrup made with gum arabic. The Old Velvet was much richer in flavor and Ted made sazeracs with it…
Old Velvet and Quinine Bitters
Ted Breaux´s absinthes sold by Jade Liqueurs are excellent! it seems to me that everything that man touches becomes very special and of very high quality. And he also had his fantastic Perique tobacco liqueur there too, which i wrote a review of on this blog a year and a half ago. It`s one of my favorite liqueurs.
Combier presented a range of liqueurs and their triple sec is the original triple sec dating back to 1834 France where it was originally made by Jean-Baptiste Combier and his wife Josephine. It`s made with all natural ingredients and has a vibrant, crisp and bright citrus flavor.
Their other liqueurs are all worth trying out too, i tried for example their Kummel which is a sweet, colorless liqueur flavored with caraway seed, cumin, and fennel.
You find Jade lqueurs here and Combier USAÂ here.
RUMS
Another great tasting event was all the rums on the saturday starting with Shellback rum followed by Gubba rum, then the  Legends of rum – a meet and greet tasting hosted by Robert and Robin Burr – the creators of the yearly Rum Renaissance festival in Miami – where you got to try some of the world´s best rums and meet the producers, then at the same time Appleton had a tasting room with cocktails and Jamaican music and then we had Bayou rum streetside and Plantation rum by Cognac Ferrand.
It was a whole RUM day!! which this rum-lover really enjoyed! And that was just the tastings…there was also a seminar that day – European rums.
As always when i go to rum tastings – which i wish could happen more often…there´s one or two (new to me) rums that i never tried before that stick with me and this time it was Mount Gay 1703 Black Barrel with it´s deep flavor.
Bottles filled with goodies…
Our Rum Ambassador Ian Burrell mixed up his Jamaican style “Lion Star” cocktail with Plantation rum using that cool ancient shaker i always seen him with and handed out badges with his own happy self on:-)
When he´s around you can be sure there´s entertainment! and a lot of rum education because he´s an edutainer! I wll never forget his story about grandpa Burrell…
Here´s the recipe for Ian`s cocktail, the Lion Star:
 Rum is fun!!
Ian shaking it up!
Also where there´s a rum event you can be pretty sure to meet this guy with all the Chairman´s Reserve rums…Mr Clyde Davis Jr will let you taste the liquid gold in his bottles and mix up a cocktail or two!
Chairman`s Reserve is a great rum from the island of St Lucia in the Caribbean and at this tasting Clyde carried the Spiced rum – which contains local spices and fruits including cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, vanilla, coconut, all spice, lemon and orange and then it also contains Bois Bande bark!
And that is what i couldn´t figure out when i tried it, what that hint of rooty kinda flavor came from…
A great spiced rum!
And no rum tasting is complete without a few rhum agricoles and here was available Rhum JM and Rhum Clèment which both are excellent rhum agricoles. Here´s something i wish – more rhum agricoles at the Tales! why not a seminar about rhum agricole? with several brands to try and compare!
And this was all for today…The Tastings number 3 soon come!