Here is a COCKTAIL link to WorldWideDrinks front page.

It's the BirthDay of the breathtaking Miss Charming
Cheryl Charming

November / 19th
Happy BirthDay Cheryl

And The Winner Is…

From Andrew Barrow's   The Spirit World,   On August 12, 2008 Robert Hess posted this.

Tales of the Cocktail is an annual event in New Orleans to celebrate the history and appreciation of cocktails, the spirits that go into them, and the people who make them. In July, they held their sixth conference, and this was also the second time they also held their “Spirited Awards” ceremony where they recognize significant achievements and efforts across various categories. Previously I listed out for you all of the nominees, but now that the event is over, it’s time to name names and let you know who the winners were.

Notable this year in the awards was an international recognition of people, venues, and products. While cocktails may have originated in the United States, their impact, and their craftsmanship can be seen and appreciated all over the world. A challenge with spreading such a broad scope over these awards is of course being able to adequately experience and understand the various offerings. The overall awards process is overseen by Simon Difford, noted authority on cocktails and bar culture, and author of “DiffordsGuide to Cocktails”. To assist Simon in reviewing the nominees and carefully selecting the winners, he has gathered an international panel of judges consisting of:

Helmut Adam - Editor of Mixology Magazine
Jacob Briars - Vodka Professor for 42 Below
Philip Duff – Cocktail Expert and Consultant to Bols
Robert Hess – Host of “The Cocktail Spirit” and a founder of “The Museum of the American Cocktail”
Anistatia Miller – Author and Director of Exposition Universelle des Vins et Spiritueux
Xavier Padovani – Global Brand Ambassador for Hendrick’s Gin
Audrey Saunders – The Libation Goddess behind the Pegu Club
LeNell Smothers – The Spirited Palate behind LeNells, NYC
Jamie Terrell – Mixologist and Sagatiba Global Brand Ambassador
Charlotte Voisey – Mixologist and William Grant Ambassador
Angus Winchester – Playboy Bartender and Founder of Alconomics

…all of whom worked closely together to select this year’s winners. So without further adieu, here they are:

World’s Best NEW Cocktail Bar
Le Lion - Bar de Paris - Hamburg, Germany

Best New Product
Fever Tree Mixers

Best Cocktail Writing
Gary Regan (San Francisco Chronicle)

Best Drinks Brand Representative/Brand Ambassador
Xavier Padovani – Hendrick’s Gin

Best Cocktail Menu
1806 Bar in Melbourne, Australia

Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book
“Imbibe!” by David Wondrich

Best Classic Cocktail Bar
Milk and Honey, New York City

Best Drinks Selection
Salvatore at Fifty

Mixologist/Bartender of the Year
Nick Strangeway – Hawksmoor, London, England

World’s Best Cocktail Bar
Milk & Honey New York

Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award
Dale DeGroff - King Cocktail

Plans are already starting up for next year’s “Tales of the Cocktail” (July 8th thru 12th), and we are all looking forward to another round of Spirited Awards, will your favorite bar or bartender perhaps be one of the nominees?

We have a WINNER

James Beard Foundation Books Awards
For books published in English in 2007.
In the WINE AND SPIRITS category.
Award Winner
Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar
_______ by David Wondrich


Congratulations to a good man , David Wondrich

Our friend Jamie Boudreau over at Spirits and Cocktails wrote, “As if there wasn’t enough of a reason to own Imbibe!, our good friend David Wondrich has just won a James Beard award for this transcendent tome!”

Cheers to you David
Bruce Tomlinson

World Cocktail Week starts May 8th and ends on May 13th.
It was on May 13th, 1806 that the editor of The Balance and Columbian Repository in Hudson, New York put forth in his paper the succinct definition of the cocktail as being

'...spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters...'.

World Cocktail Week (WCW) is a project of The Museum of the American Cocktail® and was established to celebrate the rich history of the cocktail and recognize the craft and skill of the bartenders who have been mixing them for over 200 years.

WorldWideDrinks LLC ... is a proud member of ... The Museum of the American Cocktail®

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When prohibition placed its stranglehold on our nation, it doomed for more than thirteen years the real art and etiquette of drinking. Book, articles, advertising and broadcasting concerning liquor, and all formulas for mixing drinks once popular in all branches of society, were placed under Federal ban. From the hands of law-abiding experts the liquor business passed into the hands of novices from the underworld. Concoctions were served under titles never before known to the drinking world. Most of these drinks were abominable, mixed by men who did not know even the rudiments of the art. America today still has not unlearned all the follies she was taught in the name of prohibitionists and must learn all over again what she has unlearned. This site will give back that was once lost. The crafting of great cocktails.

Bruce Tomlinson & Dale Degroff
I don't remember what we were so happy about, but look at those grins.

Dale has been nominated
By the James Beard Foundation for the
OUTSTANDING WINE AND SPIRITS PROFESSIONAL AWARD

Presented by Southern Wine & Spirits of New York

A winemaker, brewer, or spirits professional who has had a significant impact on the wine and spirits industry nationwide. Candidates must have been in the profession for at least five years.

*Nominees for Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional are:

Dale DeGroff
Dale DeGroff Co., Inc., NYC

Merry Edwards
Merry Edwards Wines
Sebastopol, CA

David Lett
The Eyrie Vineyards
McMinnville, OR

Bobby Stuckey
Frasca Food and Wine
Boulder, CO

Terry Theise
Terry Theise Estate Selections
Silver Spring, MD

ALSO

David has been nominated

David Wondrich and Bruce Tomlinson

James Beard Foundation Books Awards
Presented by Green & Black's®
For books published in English in 2007.

And the books in the wine and spirits categorie are:

WINE AND SPIRITS

The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty
by Julia Flynn Siler
(Gotham Books)

Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar
by David Wondrich
(Perigee)

To Cork or Not To Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the Wine Bottle
by George M. Taber
(Scribner)

Covering all aspects of the industry—from chefs and restaurateurs to cookbook authors and food journalists to restaurant designers and architects and more—the James Beard Foundation Awards are the highest honor for food and beverage professionals working in America. Nominees and winners are fêted at a weekend of gala events in New York City that has become the social and gastronomic highlight of the year.

Sunday, June 8, 2008
Awards Ceremony 6:30 pm
Gala Reception immediately to follow

Event Location:
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center
NYC

Tickets:
James Beard Foundation Members $400
General Public $450
Press $200

Tickets go on sale March 17.
To purchase tickets, please call 212.925.0054 or email boxoffice@jamesbeard.org.

P.S. if you do not have Davids book .... Shame on you....

Cheers
Bruce Tomlinson

I spoke to Cheryl Charming today(Sat. March 29-2008)for about an hour. If she could be bottled. She definitely would be on the top shelf !!!
What is she doing? Working on a new book of course. The Cocktail Film Fest that was put on by the Tales of the Cocktail people and hosted by Cheryl Charming was a sold out success. If you do not know about it. The following is the the advertisement for all three movies.

COCKTAIL FILM FEST CELEBRATES SIPPING IN CINEMA WITH THREE SCREENINGS AT W NEW ORLEANS HOTEL
Host Cheryl Charming presents movies and themed cocktails and food March 21 – 22.

Cheryl Charming

Cheryl Charming

Bruce Tomlinson & Cheryl Charming
Having a few Sazerac's

Fun Facts!
What is it?

Tales of the Cocktail and the W New Orleans invite movie buffs and libation lovers to indulge in two evenings of celebrating cocktail in film. Cheryl Charming, cocktail writer and founder of MissCharming.com, plays hostess for the screenings

Your Hostess for the Weekend
Film Fest hostess Cheryl Charming has been in the food and beverage industry since 1976, tending bar, authoring bar and cocktail related books and teaching bar tricks to Walt Disney World bartenders. Cheryl also writes cocktail related articles and frequents as a celebrity cocktail guest on various radio, television, and pod cast shows. She is a member of The Bartenders Guild, FBA (Flair Bartenders Association) and The Museum of the American Cocktail. She resides in Downtown Orlando and maintains the website MissCharming.com

The Film Fest schedule is as follows:

Friday, March 21, 8 p.m., Casablanca
Saturday, March 22, 5 p.m., The Seven Year Itch
Saturday, March 22, 8 p.m., Guys and Dolls
Seating for all films are dinner party style.

Drinks and Dishes Being Served:

Friday, March 21, 8 p.m., Casablanca.
An evening filled with Moroccan food, French 75’s, Champagne Cocktails, Brandy, film-theme spirits, prizes, and fun while viewing this Academy Award winning romance film of 1942.

Saturday, March 22, 5 p.m., The Seven Year Itch
This Happy Hour is filled with prizes and all the Itch cocktails; Martinis, Tom Collins’, Scotch, Whiskey Sours, Gin and Tonics! There will be lots of snacky snacky foods and retro candy to munch on during this Summer blockbuster of 1955 too. Cameras are welcome, as you may want your photo taken with Marilyn!

Saturday, March 22, 8 p.m., Guys and Dolls
Followed after the Happy Hour film is this dinner film filled with Mojitos, Cuba Libres, Mexican beer, and Milk Punch served in coconut cups. Dinner is our twist on cuisine invented in the 1950s; The TV Dinner! Door prizes and wedding cake also accompany this Academy Award nominated of 1955.

Tickets
Tickets are $25 per film, per person, and include drinks, cocktail food and snacks. A weekend package that includes all three films is $65 per person, which saves you $10 for the weekend. For tickets, visit www.TalesoftheCocktail.com or call 504-377-7935 beginning March 1, 2008.

Parking
The W New Orleans is featuring a special parking rate of $12 for Cocktail Film Fest goers per night. *This does not apply to overnight guests.

Special Room Rates:
The W New Orleans is featuring a special rate of $129 a night for Cocktail Film Fest goers. Visit www.whotels.com/wneworleans for more information.

CONTACT: Ann Rogers: 504-343-4285; ann@talesofthecocktail.com

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St. Patrick's Day Mon, Mar / 17 / 2008
On this day my name changes from Tomlinson to O'Tomlinson. So I took my dear sweet mother. "Ma O'Tomlinson" to an Irish Pub. She had a corned beef sandwich and a couple George Killens Irish Red's and her first in all of her 76 years a shot of Irish Whiskey. Woo Hoooo.

Bartender sets cocktail-mixing record
LAS VEGAS (UPI) -- A bartender with nearly a quarter-century of experience set a world record this week by mixing 253 cocktails in an hour during a trade show in Las Vegas.

Bobby "G" Gleason kept up a pace of more than four drinks a minute. He shattered the previous record of 179 cocktails an hour, set in 2004, before a critical audience at the Nightclub & Bar Convention & Trade Show.

Gleason, who got his start in the fast-paced clubs of South Florida and then moved to Las Vegas, is now master mixologist for Beam Global Inc., the Illinois company that produces Jim Beam bourbon and other brands of booze. During his speed run, he produced a series of different margaritas based on two of his employer's brands, DeKuyper cordials and liqueurs and Hornitos tequila.

"It's all in the balance," he said.

A representative of the Guinness Book of World Records, a book that got its start as a means of settling barroom arguments, was also in attendance.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 02/29/2008

2008 is a Leap Year
A holiday that only rolls around only once every four years. So you need a special cocktail to celebrate..
This libation is out of ,,,,"The Savoy Cocktail Book . --- By Harry Craddock ---1930"

The Leap Year Cocktail

1.1/2 ounces gin
1/3 ounce Grand Marnier
1/3 ounce sweet vermouth
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 lemon twist, for garnish
Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the garnish.
This Cocktail was created by Harry Craddock, for the Leap Year celebrations at the Savoy Hotel, London, on February 29th, 1928. . . It is said to have been responsible for more proposals than any other cocktail that has ever been mixed.

TALES OF THE TIKI COCKTAIL: PELICAN CLUB HOSTS DINNER WITH HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF TROPICAL DRINKS
Author Jeff “Beachbum” Berry reveals NOLA connections to birth of Tiki cocktails.

Top left Jeff "Beachbum Berry", Center Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh, Right - Bruce "Mr. Cocktail" Tomlinson

DOWNLOAD THE TIKI MENU
NEW ORLEANS – Tales of the Cocktail, the annual culinary and cocktail festival, presents Tales of the Tiki Cocktail, a dinner and tropical drink history and tasting, on Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, at The Pelican Club.

Author Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, who has written multiple books on “tiki” and tropical drinks, will be in New Orleans to host the dinner and tasting with Pelican Club chef Richard Hughes. Berry will discuss how New Orleans was the birthplace of these revolutionary rum cocktails and the local restaurants who were most known for this type of drink.

“Don The Beachcomber, who kicked off the national craze of Tiki drinks was actually born in New Orleans,” said Jeff Berry. “Chef Hughes and I are going to take our guests on a culinary journey of exotic cuisine and vintage tropical drink recipes.” Berry is the author of "Beachbum Berry's Grog Log," which has been called "the best bar guide for tropical drinks ever published" (National Review). Jeff's next two books, "Intoxica!" and "Taboo Table," have made him the toast of the global tiki bar revival. His original cocktail creations are now being served at tiki bars around the world.

Ann Rogers, founder of Tales of the Cocktail notes that the annual summertime event is expanding its educational outreach. “We are now hosting events throughout the year, such as Tales of the Tiki Cocktail, in addition to our annual festival,” said Rogers. “Now locals, as well as visitors to New Orleans can attend fantastic tastings and seminars on any given weekend or weekday on subjects from tiki drinks to holiday cocktails!”

All Tales of the Cocktail events support the New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society, which raise funds to support its mission of preserving New Orleans dining and drinking history. Reservations are required to attend Tales of the Tiki Cocktail and tickets are $95 a person inclusive of tax and gratuity. Tickets can be purchased online at www.talesofthecocktail.com or by calling 504-948-0511. Tales of the Cocktail’s host hotel, The Monteleone, is offering a special rate of $179 on the evening of the event. Mention the promotional code, TIKI when calling to reserve a room at 800-535-9595.

On Saturday, Feb. 23, Borders Books and Music will host Berry at a book signing from 1 – 3 p.m. that is sponsored by Old New Orleans Rum. Borders is located at 3131 Veterans Memorial Blvd. in Metairie.

The New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds to benefit hospitality industry members, produces Tales of the Cocktail annually. Its mission it so preserve the rich history of the restaurants and bars of New Orleans and the unique culture of dining and drinking famous to the city, while educating locals, visitors, and the hospitality industry about this culinary heritage.

Here is a COCKTAIL link to WorldWideDrinks front page.