"Tales of the Cocktail" Day Three: Cracks Appear

It is probably more of a positive than a negative that it took until Day Three of Tales of the Cocktail for cracks to show in the carefully crafted veneer of the event. Most productions of this size and scope would have faced the inevitable glitches and poor presenters much earlier.

That said, the day started with a $50 admission session entitled “Cocktails on the Curve: The Future of Mixology.” Sadly, the presentation wasn’t in my opinion worth even half that amount.

The problem lay not with the panelists, knowledgeable pros one and all, but with the Moderator, one Antoinette Bruno from StarChefs.com. From having her phone ring loudly in the middle of the seminar to apparently paying scant attention to what her panelists were saying, Ms. Bruno displayed almost all of the qualities you do not want in a panel host. Which was quite a shame,. really, because if it had been properly directed, it could have been a bold and influential session.

The other hiccup, for me, at least, came later on during the packed house Bar Chef Competition held down the street at the Ritz-Carlton. Although mildly entertaining at first, watching people mix drinks at a distance is really not all that great entertainment, and watching judges sip their creations even less so. I lost interest and left well before the winner was announced. (Who, by the way, turned out to be Bridget Albert from Southern Wine and Spirits. Congratulations, Bridget!)

In contrast to the day’s low points were a raucous and fun South American Spirits seminar led by Junior Merino and a terrifically fun but woefully underattended screening of what Robert “DrinkBoy” Hess described as “The greatest drinking movie ever made,” The Thin Man, accompanied, naturally enough, by period cocktails.