Photos from Sara

- photos by Sara Gorelick

For those in the spirits community, the end of July is a sort of world holiday, where brands, bartenders, mixologists, chefs, cocktail lovers and everyone in between converge in New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail. The four-day experiment in "how to survive on the least amount of food, water and sleep" is not for amateurs, and neither are the seminars, dinners, parties and tasting rooms that fill the days of the Cocktilians who frequent the Big Easy the third week of July year after year. Centered around the historic Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter, Tales has begun to spread to all sides of this Southern city.

Beefeater held an opening party in an art gallery, William Grant and Sons took over a mansion, Pernod Ricard closed down a street to play Petanque and Grand Marnier took over two giant floors in an event space, not to mention the funeral procession for the Sex on the Beach cocktail which snaked its way through the city and culminated in a brilliant bartender breakfast. To quote Francesco LaFranconi, Director of Mixology for Southern Wine & Spirits at the Ultimate Pisco Challenge, "It's all about having fun in life!"

For those of you who missed the fun, here is an array of photos from my adventures at Tales!

Sara

 

	The city of New Orleans
	A crowd swarms the bar at the Beefeater party on Wednesday evening
	The Bartender Olympics by Cabana Cachaca shut down Royal Street
	The table is set for an afternoon of tasting at "A Shot of the Black Stuff: Amazing Amaros and Brilliant Bitters" at the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Thursday afternoon
	The Classic & Vintage Pool Parlor on Thursday afternoon at Hotel Monteleone
	Dan Hutchinson of BarNoneDrinks, Scott Goldman of Combier and Raphael Reyes of Yerba Buena in New York are all smiles at the William Grant and Sons party on Wednesday evening
	Mauricio, BA for Leblon and I catch a drink at the Beefeater party