The gang was almost all there… (all images and representations used explicitly without permissionI met many fine people last night in our informal cocktail bloggers meet-up. It was like a flash-mob of well-spoken storytelling awesomeness that descended upon the Carousel bar and then Arnaud’s. That is, until Arnaud’s became rife with pretension and the sorts of people that actually care to be seen and wear those damned fitted t-shirts with tailored flat-fronted pants1 . At the Carousel I had Negroni which was more than passable and Joana has a dry martini which was not2 . We then asked an employee of Hotel Monteleone for recommendations on oysters and the less said about that, the better3 . While there, though, we did mix up some sparkling wine with Pernod and some of Blair’s (TraderTiki) Falernum Bitters to good effect, so all was not lost. Then, fed up with oysters and lobster, then night got started truly.

At Arnaud’s French 75 Bar (pictured above) I met even more of my fellow lushes bloggers and, as you might expect, had French 75s. But, with brandy instead of gin. It’s nice that way, but Jo and I will take our 75s in their full British glory in the future. Jeffrey Morgenthaler and I continued the age-old discussion of whether gin or brandy was originally used, Paul shared his tales of growing up in Oklahoma (I had no idea), and Matt, Blair, and Craig Mrusek (see below) showed off their fancy hats4 . Jay and Rick were their charming and winning selves and Craig and Heather Hermann were a delight–plus my wife got to share her shoe emergency/debacle with Heather. Joana and I then shared a Sazerac (too sweet for may taste, and too much anise for Craig M). But, once the crowd turned decidedly and purposefully well-dressed, we made a break for it.

Great guys, great hats. I’m not sure who made the call, as these things always seem determined by some miniature zeitgeist of the evening, but we found ourselves led to Pat O’Brien’s by Matt, like some Virgil through hell, and ended up in at least the 6th circle of bad drinking. As Jay put it, bad drinks with good people. I was cajoled into ordering a Hurricane with cries of, “A HURRICANE, MAN! You can’t go to Pat O’Brien’s and not have a HURRICANE!!” Joana had the presence of mind and fortitude to order a Tom Collins. Both were neon and god-awful. The closest drink to the Hurricane I could come up with was a Sea Breeze made with Finest Call Sweet-and-Sour minus the vodka. Just laughably bad. At some point they apparently started offering cocktail bloggers free drinks. And here I thought they liked us.

I’m extremely glad I met the lot of them and look forward to our continued adventures. I can’t imagine a better start to this week and, hopefully, I’ll survive it.

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  1. don’t they know pleats are IN, baby?!? [↩]
  2. let sit in the ice too long before shaking. Note: there was only one bartender who was run ragged–seriously, you don’t staff up when TotC folks are checking in that very damned day? What, you think we AREN’T going to hit the bar? [↩]
  3. There was a warning sign re: drinking and pregnancy in the MEN’s restroom; it was that sort of place I guess [↩]
  4. it’s worth noting that those bloggers with alter-egos/monikers–Dr. Bamboo, Trader Tiki, RumDood–tended toward the hat thing. What this says about us, I don’t know, but yes, they’ve determined I must be wearing a hat by the end of this…and who am I to argue? I’m game [↩]