I'm having trouble with my typepad comment address so will answer or add to some recent comments right here.
To Stephen Beaumont on my assertion re: cocktail pairing dinners:
I'll go further than I did in my off-handed remark, Stephen, and say I think that, until execution of complicated cocktails is routine and unless a reliable batch method is employed, I would trust few restaurants to execute this properly and still run full service. See Plotkin's post about what the SF Spirits judges faced on their night off; it would be hysterical if it wasn't typical. I'm not saying I agree with folks who say they can't get a good cocktail prepared well; I'm just saying I think the upside only exists in a place where cocktail and culinary creativity and execution is at least equal. Spirit dinners can work, but they're just too much of a challenge for most customers, and after I've been to one, I wish I'd had beer or wine instead.
To Stephen re: Beertenders:
The list could even be longer, but what are the ten things we think they MUST do to be good? Pour a proper glass, ask before pouring a bottle into a glass for a customer, having a basic understanding of the important styles (I don't care unless I'm in a beer geek paradise whether a beertender knows her helles from her Dortmund - I'm not sure I know most of the time), that's three - got any other suggestions?
To Roughstock re: winecasts
The only practical application I see is the same as for radio programs I miss on the air but get through iTunes, for time-shifted use as a study aid. Play one of those a few times and it's imbedded.
To Cachaca Dave:
Great event for the makers, the consumers, and, if they're quick, the retailers. Dori has emailed me that one retailer plans to establish an "As tasted at the..." niche in the store to promote the rums that were there - a great retail idea.
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