Cocktails

For the fourth year in a row, bartenders descended on Portland, Oregon for Portland Cocktail Week in October. An event that is "for bartenders, by bartenders,"  270 students from across the country went back to school. Split into four majors: Advanced Craft Cocktail Bartending, Beyond the Bar, Bar Ownership and Product Development, each student was required to fulfill a core curriculum, classes in his/her major and electives. With my media pass in hand, I was able to audit the classes that interested me so I attended a number of courses under the Beyond the Bar major.  Here are some of the highlights of what was covered:
28 October, 2013
The Houston Brothers (Mark and Jonnie) did it again with their grand opening of Hollywood's newest venue, Dirty Laundry. With a successful track record of nightlife venues such as No Vacancy, The Piano Bar, Harvard and Stone, and La Descarga (just to name a few), it's no wonder why their latest venture started off with quite a bang.
11 October, 2013
Last Sunday, the sun was shining when the fourth annual L.A. Loves Alex's Lemonade benefit for pediatric cancer research was held on the lawn of Culver Studios. Founded in 2000, Alexandra "Alex" Scott (1996-2004) was a four-year-old neuroblastoma patient who held a charity lemonade stand in front of her home to help raise money for cancer.  In one day, she raised $2,000 and by the time she passed away in 2004 at the age of 8, she had raised, with the help of others, more than $1 million. Almost 10 years later, more than $60 million has been raised to fund over 300 research projects with the goal of ending childhood cancer. Los Angeles Chef Suzanne Goin and her business partner Caroline Styne (AOC, Lucques, Tavern), along with Chef David Lentz (The Hungry Cat) created LA Loves Alex’s Lemonade Stand and each year an extraordinary group of chefs, vintners and mixologists donate their time for one of Los Angeles’ best and most worthy food and wine events. To date, the Los Angeles event has raised more than $1 million and this past week’s event raised more than $530,000.
04 October, 2013
When you think of your favorite cocktails, most of them are lead by familiar spirits like vodka, gin, tequila, rum, etc......but Sake?  TyKu Sake is paving the way for sake culture. Named by merging the words taekwondo and Haiku poems, TyKu represents the synergy of the two and highlights TyKu’s mission for respecting tradition and embracing tomorrow. While staying true to its origins and ingredients, TyKu offers premium sake that is great on its own or in a cocktail, as we learned recently when we joined TyKu at Sushi Roku for some cocktails and small plates. Sake is believed to have originated in Japan around 700 AD. Most surviving breweries were set up by landowners who grew rice crops and used the left over rice in their breweries to create what is known as Sake. Set out to create something authentic and true to its origins, American owners of TyKu lived in Japan for over four years and worked closely with the people of Japan to fully immerse themselves into the culture they have now brought to the public.  
01 October, 2013

What happens when you fill a train car with bartenders and representatives from four countries that produce whisk(e)y? The Great Whisk(e)y Debate….on a Train 2013! It started earlier...

26 September, 2013
Meet Pep Katcher, one of the owners of Cruz Tequila. We sat down in New Orleans where Pep told me the story of Cruz Tequila as we tasted through the soft, elegant tequilas. Cruz Tequila was created eight years ago when Pep, his brother Saulo, and friend Todd Nelson declared that they could make better tequila than the one they happened to be drinking.  With no knowledge of the manufacturing aspects of tequila, they were determined to build a brand from scratch that would represent a flavor profile that was soft, smooth and approachable.
19 September, 2013
It's taken more than two weeks of working out to recover from the 3rd Annual Los Angeles Food and Wine Event that took place August 22 - 25th. Four days of back to back events filled with amazing food and drinks was pretty indulgent and we enjoyed every single bite and sip! The weekend began with Giada's Festa Italiana on Thursday night. The weather was perfect as we walked down Grand Avenue, outside of Disney Concert Hall. There were over 200 wines to taste, and carb-filled Italian dishes to soak it all up.
16 September, 2013
All hands were on deck when The Modern Mixologist, Tony Abou-Ganim, took to the helm to help celebrate National Rum Day (August 16th) by teaching us how to make simple, tasty cocktails with Shellback Rum from Barbados. Upon arriving at the event, we enjoyed a glass (or two) of Tony's Rum Punch to get in the mood. Made with Shellback Silver Rum, lemon juice, simple syrup, bitters and grated nutmeg, this was a tasty punch that gave a punch. So, it was a good thing we filled up on small bites as well.
12 September, 2013
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