Get Creative with What You Got

I think one thing anyone who has attended Tales of the Cocktail will tell you is that you probably won't have to buy a bottle of liquor while you're here. There are so many regular and mini bottles passed out that it will take care of all of your late night, hotel room drinks. The selection is amazing and I've come across some amazing new discoveries like Loft Lavender Cello, Fentiman's Ginger Beer and Catdaddy Moonshine.

Our swag bags were full almost the minute we arrived and that mash of bottles and other random swag from last year was the inspiration for Jeffrey Morgenthaler to design this year's On The Fly Competition. Eight of the countries top bartenders (-Paul Clarke - Seattle, Todd Thrasher - Washington, Neyah White - San Francisco, David Wondrich - New York, Giuseppe Gonzales - New York, Misty Kalkofen - Boston, Ricky Gomez - New Orleans, Eric Alperin-LA)competed in this melee. They were given 30 minutes to create the best cocktail they could using select ingredients inside two boxes without knowing what was inside until the clock started.

With ingredients like BBQ sauce, Tabasco, a mojito mix, M&M's, onion strips and Dum Dums we could tell that this was going to be interesting. Many of the bartenders chose to go spicy and Alperin even chose to go with the BBQ in a drink that was reported to be horrible. There was some fire, a lot of muddling and infusions and at one point Wondrich went a little wild with a mallet. In the end the celebrity judges found a few cocktails (which were also required to have at least 1/2 oz of either Grand Marnier or Navan) "a little scary," others as an "antidote" for those, and a few impressive. Kalkofen was awarded with second place for her "Heather of Jeffrey" with a chai infused Scotch base and Gonzales (of Dutch Kills in NYC) took top honors for "A Drink with No Name" which was based on the Pina Colada.

I have also played with some of my swag out of boredom more than anything. The one quick concoction that was rather delicious was a rum, Grand Marnier and tonic, which was all I had in my purse at the time but made a fantastic midnight sipper while watching the tugs and paddle boats on the Mississippi.