Ever wanted to know what David Wondrich, Greg Boehm, or Dan Warner might say about an original drink creation you’ve made? Find out tomorrow.

Tomorrow, April 29th, at 7pm (EDT) the Mixoloseum, the Quarter Bar in Brooklyn, and the Monkey Hut will all join arms in welcoming Beefeater 24 to American shores. Inspired by the fact that Desmond Payne’s grandfather was a tea merchant, Beefeater has released a premium gin that is infused with botanicals including sencha and green teas for 24 hours prior to distillation. This brings some nuances and additional light notes to an already solid gin. And, in Thursday Drink Night, we’ll be getting to know it better

This TDN will bring to bear many good things. The Quarter Bar and Beefeater 24 have been gracious enough to host a live event for us to celebrate TDN and try the submitted drinks for evaluation. Dan Warner will be there and, as rumor has it, may be able to shake a drink or two from behind the stick. Greg Boehm and David Wondrich are also slated to appear along with the Mixoloseum and TDN regulars as we broadcast the event live on the Mixoloseum channel. We also have the traditional online event where you’ll be able to submit your drinks and try others’ and Craig Hermann will be hosting an event in the Monkey Hut in Portland, OR. So, please join us. Whether online, in New York City, or in Portland, OR, you’re bound to have a great time alongside a great product.

It will likely be a wild wooly mass of drinks submitted but all will be tweeted and, if Dan’s arm holds up, all will be made and tried in good will. I look forward to seeing you there.

Details:

• When: This Thursday Night, 7:00pm (EDT) (but join in any time)
• Where: The Mixoloseum Bar
• Feed of Live NYC Event: Mixoloseum Channel
• Bring: Drink inspirations, an appreciation for the finer things spirits have to offer, and a love of laughter and a friendly group.

FREE STUFF:

The best drink of the evening will receive a copy of “Jones’ Complete Bar Guide” courtesy of Greg Boehm and Cocktail Kingdom.

MORE FREE STUFF:

The most participatory newcomer of the evening¹ will receive an unused copy of “The Mixicologist” from my own library.

1. and yes, this means you’ll have to submit a drink [↩]

Tomorrow, April 2nd, at 7pm (EDT) we will be celebrating Metaxa, a Greek brandy that’s blended with Muscat wine and botanicals and is unique in its character. It comes in 3-star, 5-star, and 7-star varieties¹ which indicate the number of years they’re aged in oak barrels. Spyros Metaxas founded the distillery in 1888 and it’s survived wars and Spyros’ death to remain a recognized and respected spirit.

This TDN many fun and unique things will happen. Effie Panagopolous, the Metaxa Muse, will be joining us to discuss the history and merits of Metaxa in mixed drinks and cocktails and will be sharing her depth of knowledge and enthusiasm for the spirit throughout the evening.² We will also be broadcasting this Thursday Drink Night from the home of Erik Ellestad who will be hosting a Live TDN event where the likes of Martin Cate, Rick Stutz, Matt Rowley, Marleigh Riggins, Camper English, Matt Robold, Michelle Whiting, myself and many other TDN enthusiasts will be descending upon his house, generally wrecking his liquor supply and creating drinks with style, panache, and good company. The feed for the TDN web broadcast will be at BlogTV under the Mixoloseum channel.

Imbibe Metaxa Contest

We will ALSO be taking part in Imbibe’s Ultimate Metaxa Cocktail Contest where the best drink of the evening will be submitted to the competition under the submitter’s and Mixoloseum’s banner. And hell, even if you participate and yours isn’t selected, take your TDN submission and submit it to win the contest.³

Details:

• When: This Thursday Night, 7:00pm (EST) (but join in any time)
• Where: The Mixoloseum Bar
• Feed of Live SF Event: Mixoloseum Channel
• Bring: Drink inspirations, an appreciation for the finer things spirits have to offer, and a love of laughter and a friendly group.

FREE STUFF:

The best drink of the evening will receive a bottle of blueberry bitters courtesy of Greg Boehm and Cocktail Kingdom.

1. there are also 12-star and Grand Reserve varieties, but they’re rarely seen [↩]
2. Effie, unfortunately, will not be able to join us, so we’ll just have to do Metaxa justice all on our own! [↩]
3. Please note that residents of California are not eligible to win the content – Of course, we’ll just submit it under the “Mixoloseum” and call it a day then, shan’t we? [↩]

Join us tonight at 7pm EST with a live feed of TDN: Beefeater from Vessel in Seattle where Paul Clarke, Stevi Deter will be hosting TDN at Vessel with guests such as Robert Hess, Jamie Boudreau and others. The fine bartenders at Vessel will also be submitting drinks and putting their skills into the mix.

You can also join us in the Mixoloseum Bar and submit and mix drinks of your very own!

Fernet Branca. It makes boys of men and men of boys and Ricks of us all, if we let it. From the amaro family of Italian digestifs, its flavor profile bowls most over but, at the end of it all, remains memorable and distinctive and leaving the imbiber saying, in the immortal words of Socrates, “I drank what?”¹ The production of Fernet Branca is still overseen by the Branca family and if you haven’t read Wayne Curtis’ profile in The Atlantic of his trip to Milan and impressions of Fernet Branca yourself, then it’s high-time you did.

As he mentions, there are fairly few mixed drinks or cocktails (aside from the mixing with Cola or Red Bull) that go anywhere near Fernet Branca as an ingredient. Beginning its life as a medicine and tonic, it’s simply too bold, too brash, too concentrated, and to overwhelming for most cocktailians to pull off the shelf except to take the occasional stimulative shot, or two. Until now. This Thursday, March 5, join us as we mix drinks with Fernet Branca and sample others’ drinks as they work their magic in any way they choose. Nicole Hajek, a representative of Fernet Branca will be joining us to answer questions about the origins of the product and how its renewed popularity has come about and how its colorful reputation was earned . It will be flavorful, fun, and, as always, illustrative of just how far into Fernet-infused happiness we can go and come out the other side still loving it . Join us, won’t you? ,

• When: This Thursday Night, 7:00pm (EST) (but join in any time)
• Where: The Mixoloseum Bar
• Bring: Drink inspirations, an appreciation for the finer things spirits have to offer, and a love of laughter and a friendly group.

Guidelines:

1. Join the fun.
2. Dare Rick to mix and give tasting notes on some ridiculous drink idea.
3. Watch as it’s tweaked, discussed, and mocked.
4. Mix it up along with everyone else and share your thoughts.
5. Consume (or treat your sink to a drink) and return to Step 2.

1. yes, it’s a great line from a great movie and I stole it…extra points if you knew it immediately [↩]

As you’ll note in the first post in my series reviewing and tasting absinthes, there are three major styles; blanche, verte, and Czech (or Bohemian). Bohemian-style absinthe is the least anise-intense style of the lot and there’s some consternation as to whether it should be considered a true absinthe and, instead, be considered a wormwood bitters. For me, this is mostly a matter of angels dancing on a bloody pin.

All of which is to say, this is a unique ingredient that I believe can be worked into cocktails in new and interesting ways. And that’s exactly what we’ll be doing this Thursday, January 22. So, join us as we mix drinks with Mata Hari Absinthe and sample others’ drinks as they work their magic in any way they choose¹ . Also, Gerry Fischer, a direct descendent of the original family owning the Austrian distillery and the master distiller of Mata Hari absinthe will be joining us to answer questions about the origins of “Bohemian-style” absinthe and just how “Czech-style” absinthe got such a bad rep. among many other things. It should be fun, informative, and, as always, enlightening as to the inner workings of our souls as we approach the witching hour on the West Coast and the 7th hour of TDN approaches. Join us, won’t you? ,

• When: This Thursday Night, 7:00pm (EST) (but join in any time)
• Where: The Mixoloseum Bar
• Bring: Drink inspirations, an appreciation for the finer things spirits have to offer, and a love of laughter and a friendly group.

1. The best drink submission from a first-time participant will be featured here on Cocktailnerd.
2. The best drink of the evening will receive a bottle of Hayman’s Old Tom Gin courtesy of Greg Boehm at Mud Puddle Books.

Guidelines:

1. Join the fun.
2. Dare Rick to mix and give tasting notes on some ridiculous drink idea.
3. Watch as it’s tweaked, discussed, and mocked.
4. Mix it up along with everyone else and share your thoughts.
5. Consume (or treat your sink to a drink) and return to Step 2.

1. hell, fire even makes an appearance some nights [↩]

Port, in my opinion, is too little used in cocktails. Aside from Sangarees, the Dead Reckoning, and the Last Resort, it’s a relative non-starter. With its rich and flavorful character port is more friendly and warm than red wine and less aloof and dangerous than white wine in mixed drinks.

So, in our last Thursday Drink Night of 2008 we’ll be featuring and mixing drinks with Sandeman Port and using the 10-year and Founder’s Reserve all the while. Also, Ted Emerson, Brand Director for Sandeman, will be available to discuss the product and answer questions

Please join us for a wonderful time and to see what sort of seasonal goodies we can come up with, just in time for your holiday parties!

• When: This Thursday Night, 7:00pm (EDT) (but join in any time)
• Where: The Mixoloseum Bar
• Bring: Drink inspirations, an appreciation for the finer things spirits have to offer, and a love of laughter and a friendly group.

1. The best cocktail creation of the evening will be featured here on Cocktailnerd.
2. A random newcomer who stays for at least two hours will receive a bottle of Sandeman Founder’s Reserve Port.

Guidelines:

1. Join the fun.
2. Dare Rick to mix and give tasting notes on some ridiculous drink idea.
3. Watch as it’s tweaked, discussed, and mocked.
4. Mix it up along with everyone else and share your thoughts.
5. Consume (or treat your sink to a drink) and return to Step 2.

If you don’t know by now, and really, you should, there’s a weekly online drinking event called Thursday Drink Night hosted by the indomitably-spirited Rick of kaiserpenguin.com at the Mixoloseum Bar. Now, normally, this is your run-of-the-mill affair whereby bartenders, enthusiasts, and mixologists get together and mix drinks that are submitted on-the-fly and put them through the gauntlet of criticism of the sort not seen since Baby Geniuses. Which is to say, unlike the movie, it’s an absolute blast.

So, “what’s special about this one?” you don’t ask? Well, firstly, it’s the first sponsored Thursday Drink Night the Mixoloseum will be having. The good folks at Leblon have seen fit to sponsor the event, take questions, and, hopefully, use the recipes we develop to solve the global financial crisis, reduce poverty by 45.71% and solve the looming energy crisis by using our drinks to catalyze cold fusion. As you can see, they got a hell of a deal.

Secondly, after much whining on my part about being stuck in Vegas sans my home bar, they’ve taken pity on me and kindly set myself and Rumdood (who will be joining me after a drive from L.A.)¹ up at a location on the Las Vegas strip where we, our laptops, and hopefully a small crowd of people will take part in TDN live and on-site at Trader Vic’s in Planet Hollywood. We will be there featuring Leblon in the drinks submitted by the online bar crowd, requesting the crowd or the bartenders submit drinks for TDN, or generally running up legendary bar tabs and ensuring the resulting mayhem and awesomeness doesn’t lead to a destroyed laptop or two.

So, if you’re in Vegas, come by and visit. We’ll be there around 6:00pm and would love to see you and, if the bartenders aren’t already sick to tears of us and giving those smoldering withering stares only barkeeps can, we may even buy you a drink. If you’re not in Vegas, join us at the online bar, pull up a seat, mix a drink with Leblon cachaca, and enjoy the show. It will prove to be a fun, informative (we’ll have Gerry and Steven from leblon on-hand to field questions and provide the edutainment of the evening), and lively time.

1. and yes, Matt, I will continue in my persistence that you live in L.A. [↩]

It’s been covered by Rick, Blair, and The Curator but I wanted to add my fiddy cents re: Thursday Drink Night! (TDN!) at the Mixoloseum’s Bar.

If I may wax rhapsodic for a moment, Rick has done a great job of making this an event worth attending and it carries on the spirit camraderie, joie de vivre and general “little d” democratic inclusion that I think the Mixoloseum should be all about. Plus, it’s a great way to get your drink on with like-minded people who are great fun and enjoy quality drinks¹ .

Please join us tonight and every Thursday night, you won’t be sorry:

• When: This Thursday Night, 8:00pm (EDT) (but join in any time)
• Where: Mixoloseum Bar
• Bring: Drink inspirations, “your mom” jokes, or dares

1. The best cocktail creation of the evening will be featured here on Kaiser Penguin (and several other coctkail blogs who I will force to post it).
2. A random newcomer who stays for at least two hours will receive two 350ml bottles of homemade spirits or syrups from two different cocktail bloggers.

Guidelines:

1. Join the fun.
2. Dare Rick to mix and give tasting notes on some ridiculous drink idea.
3. Watch as it’s tweaked, discussed, and mocked.
4. Mix it up along with everyone else and share your thoughts.
5. Consume (or treat your sink to a drink) and return to Step 2.

1. no guarantees are made as to the potential quality of drinks past, say, 10:00pm [↩]

Over at The Mixoloseum we’ve been having a lot of fun rambling and rousing and what-not and, to be honest, the “Bar” has become a great resource for me to quickly find out information of things not in my area of expertise. We also get to give and share opinions on cocktails and spirits such as the Singapore Sling, “porn campaign” cachaca, and the merits, or lack thereof, of various vodkas, gins, and rums¹ .

We’ve also held several events to trial-run interest, involvement, and to learn how to manage scheduled chats and I think we’ve had great success with our Rum Chat and our Blogging/Marketing chat. So, I would like to point out several features that are on the The Mixoloseum’s Blog as well as here at cocktailnerd and elsewhere.

Who’s Chatting:

You can easily see who’s in the Mixoloseum’s Bar at any time in my sidebar, the Mixoloseum Blog’s sidebar, or at Tiki Drinks and Indigo Firmaments ²

The chat room is always open and, of course, always open to anyone interested in sharing their cocktail experiences or looking to have questions answered. No guarantee made about our answers’ accuracy or assurance that following our advice will not cause emotional or physical harm. There’s no closing time or last call and we have a regular Thursday night “Drink Night” where we share, and try, recipes in real time and discuss, mock, and ridicule each other about them³ . Which brings us to:

Event Calendar:

To find out what we’re up to at the bar besides hanging out (sometimes we do manage to get organized) you can view the events calendar in the blog’s sidebar. We’re currently meeting every Monday night to discuss specific topics and the transcripts are posted after each gathering. Up next is a discussion about Tales panel ideas (September 15^th) and soon after we’ll be discussing cocktail garnish and garnish techniques and topics ranging from absinthe to making your own ingredients to the history and current state of gin (not to mention what to do with Sloe Gin)

Upcoming:

The Mixoloseum will also roll-out several new areas over the next month or so including:

• Mixolopedia: a wiki where drinks and any variations that can be found will be rated, discussed, and explored by registered Mixoloseum Wiki members and, once the cocktail is put through the crucible of our analysis, one may be crowned “Mixoloseum Certified!” (or something).
• Port Royal: a booze-swapping site where the have’s and have less’s can meet and trade their various and sundry homemade ingredients, hard-to-find ingredients, and local flavors free-of-charge or fees. A raising of the Port Royal villainy sunk so long ago.
• Mixoloseum Library: a search and research engine bridging the gap between classic and modern recipes and including recipe background and sources while being intelligently structured, screened, and designed (i.e. no 128 “Screaming Orgasm on the Beach 3 Ways” recipes).

Look for them soon and to see what we’re up to over there at any time visit the Bar or the Blog.

1. almost ad nauseum [↩]
2. anyone else interested in posting this let me know and I’ll send the code and configuration info. [↩]
3. Join us tonight, September 11th! [↩]

As part of a larger cocktailian social experiment myself and other cocktail bloggers have been developing concepts around centralizing our influence, interests, and information into a central repository and resource. This new resource is called The Mixoloseum and our first public event will take place next Monday night at 9pm EDT.

The primary subject will be rum, its use in cocktails, and selection considerations. We’ll also be giving time to cachaca, rhum agricole, and how the production processes differ between them and their various brands. Here’s the press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE REELASE

MONDAY MONDAY MONDAY!!!! -=+ONE NIGHT ONLY+=-
The CRUSHING CRUSHERS OF RUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM!!!!

At 9:00PM (EDT) on Monday, August 25, in the year of our awesome lord, 2008, the greatest minds contemplating rum, molasses, sugar cane, distillation, A.O.C. regulations, stainless-steel aging, and the Caribbean will gather in ONE PLACE to educate, entertain, and titillate you with tales of BRAIN-CRUSHING-FEATS-OF-DRINK that you may never see again!

Scott Steeves of Scottes’ Rum Pages, Matthew Robold of Rumdood.com, Blair Reynolds of Trader Tiki, Phil Gomes of Cachacagora, and special guest Rick Stutz of Kaiserpenguin.com, who once crushed 16 1.75L BOTTLES OF VODKA AT ONE TIME–WITH HIS MIND!!!¹ will ASTOUND and MESMERIZE you with their RUMLICIOUS and DEATH-DEFYING KNOWLEDGE!!

To join the ice-crushingest event of this year go to The Mixoloseum’s Bar, register yourself a seat, and join the festivities. Registration is free, FOR A LIMITED TIME!. We’ll see you there, or you’ll be crying and having to explain to your kids why daddy and mommy never took them anywhere AWESOME…BE THERRRRRRRRRRRRRE!!!!!!!!!

this event sponsored by Vodkazac Industries Business Incorporated

When:
Monday, August 25th @ 9:00pm (EDT)
Where:
The Mixoloseum Bar
How:
Simply register with a login and password and join in the fun. No personal information is required or will be used. The chat will remain open and unmoderated so long as we can remain sane, personable, and on-topic. We look forward to having you there.

1. pending approval of the magistrate of Monaco and Seychelles and no refunds, guarantees, or implied contracts are made in force with the mention of Rick Stutz’s name, representation, or description [↩]