Editorial
Hi there:
We start this issue on a serious note concerning Chuck
O’Conner, the consummate bartender, brand ambassador, and all around good
guy, who, as you might know, died recently in a tragic accident. A trust
has been set up for his five-year-old daughter, Delaney, and a celebration of
Chuck’s life will be held soon in New
York. Details are posted below. If you
can help with a donation, or be at the memorial, Chuck’s family will be
surely grateful.
We’re bringing you a new pictorial piece, Shaker-Face, in
this issue, and don’t miss the link to the Cocktailian
column--you’ll learn about the devious ways of the bartender. Lots more
in this issue, too, including our events calendar, and a link to DrinkBoy’s latest Web TV spot.
And yes, we know we’re a day late with this issue.
Sorry. We ran into a couple of technical difficulties.
Cheers,
Mardee & Gary
In This Issue:
- Chuck O’Connor
Memorial
- Shaker-Face a new
feature that might just serve to amuse
- The Cocktailian
Sazerac á
la Française
- Hot Links Robert Hess
has another episode of The Cocktail Spirit on the web.
- Bar Code something
new from the Partida guys
- Events Calendar something
for everyone, throughout the summer.
- On the House
with Jack Robertiello
Chuck O’Connor Memorial
The following missive is from
our friend, Steve Olson, aka wine geek.
Regarding the tragic loss of our dear
friend, brother, and colleague, Chuck O'Connor, we again want to thank you
for your outpouring of thoughts and prayers and best wishes.
We also promised information regarding a
memorial for Chuck:
We will gather for a Memorial for Chuck
O'Connor on May 15th at Gstaad, one of Chuck's
favorite bars in New York.
While it will indeed be a memorial to our friend, it will also be a
celebration of Chuck's life, as he would want it to be.
Doors will open at 7pm, with a brief
presentation of fond memories commencing at 8pm. Naturally, adult
refreshments will be served.
Gstaad is located at 43 West 26th Street in Manhattan, between Broadway and 6th Avenue.
We will also take advantage of this
opportunity to raise funds for the trust has been created for Chuck's
daughter, Delaney.
As stated previously:
"If you knew Chuck, you
also know that there was nothing more important to Chuck on this earth than
his beautiful five year old daughter. I am quite certain that if Chuck
knew he would not be around one day, he would only have wanted one thing from
me, from his family, from his friends---to be sure that Delaney is taken care
of."
Your contributions will be welcome.
The trust name is:
Smith Barney Trust for Benefit of Delaney
Ana O'Connor
Checks can be made out to:
Smith Barney FBO Delaney Ana O'Connor
and sent to :
Jana C. O'Connor
1879
Spruce Creek Blvd. East
Daytona
Beach FLA 32128
The new website address is: www.geocities.com/rememberingchuck
Thank you again for all of your love and
support through this time.
For Katy and the O'Connor family, and our
friend Al Lopez,
from
Steve and Melissa Rosete
Olson, Andy Seymour, and the team
aka wine geek
www.akawinegeek.com
www.beveragealcoholresource.com
Shaker-Face
In case you weren’t aware of this, it’s
said that the face that a bartender makes when he or she is shaking a drink,
is the same face that they make when achieving orgasm. Here we bring
you some of our favorite Shaker Faces, observed at recent Cocktails in the
Country workshops.
  
Talk about a rose between two thorns,
huh? Left and center are K.C. Joyce and Jackie Dushaj,
both from Shadows on the Hudson
in Poughkeepsie, New York,
and on the left we have a very serious Ron Joseph, bartender at The Vig Bar, in Manhattan. More
Shaker-Face pics to come. Promise.
The Cocktailian
image courtesy the good folk at quanya
New
Orleans cocktail journeys to Cognac
Gary
Regan, Special to The Chronicle, 4/20/07
I was recently
press-ganged into joining a bunch of bartenders in the Cognac
region of France on a trip
to tour 10 Cognac
houses in 96 hours. If you figure that around four hours a day were given
over to feeding our weary bodies, and we managed to get an average of, oh,
say, five hours sleep a night, we were left with six hours per distillery,
including travel time. There was barely time left for drinking, but we
managed to elbow up to the zinc bar quite frequently all the same.
Cocktailian Archive
Hot Links
Bar Code
The guys at Partida are touting
their new Margarita recipe, and we’ve been playing with their 100% organic agave nectar at Cocktails in the Country this year.
It’s pretty awesome stuff. See more about Partida’s
new signature drink by clicking on the pretty picture below.
Events Calendar
May 7 - June 11
The
Spirits Series with Anistatia Miller and Jared
Brown
From whiskey to cachaca,
spirits have had a profound effect on the world's
history, politics, trade, and culture. This five-session course explores the
significance of our favorite spirits and cocktails, and includes tastings and discussions led by instructors Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown. Co-founders of the
Museum of the American Cocktail, Miller and Brown write about food, drink,
and travel, and are the authors of several books including Shaken Not
Stirred: A Celebration of the Martini and Champagne Cocktails.
(the days surrounding) May 13
Join us for a World
Celebration
Seeking the Official 2007 World Cocktail!
May 14
World Cocktail Dinner
fundraiser
to benefit:
The
Museum of the American Cocktail
May 20 through May 24
Our good friends at BAR have announced the third BAR
5-Day Certification Program (May 20 through May 24). You know it’s gonna be a doozy when you see a lineup like this teaching the
course:
Dale DeGroff, author/master mixologist/consultant
Doug Frost, MS, MW, author/educator/journalist/consultant
Steven Olson aka winegeek, educator/journalist/consultant
F. Paul Pacult,
journalist/author/educator/consultant
David Wondrich, Ph.D.,
journalist/author/educator
Andy Seymour, educator/mixologist/spirits
expert/program coordinator
For more details follow this link then
scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the fourth glass from the
left.
June 10/11
Don’t miss this year’s New York Bar Show if you can help
it. This extravaganza is growing in leaps and bounds. Dale DeGroff, Tony Abou-Ganim, beer
expert, Gary Monterosso, Dave Wondrich,
and a host of other luminaries will be holding forth from the podium at this
year’s show. Oh, yes, and Gary
will be there, too. For a complete list of seminars, click here. To
register for the event, click here.
July 18 - July 22
If you’ve been to this event before, you
know darned well it’s a helluva good time. If you’ve never before attended, 2007 looks as though it will be
the best year yet.
On the House with Jack Robertiello
Don’t forget to visit our friend, Jack Robertiello’s round up of blogs
from cocktail geeks far and wide: On
the House with Jack Robertiello
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Friends and Affiliates
The editors of Ardent Spirits are proud to count
the following organizations and web sites among their friends
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*Ardent
Spirits accepts advertising dollars only from products that are, in the
opinion of the editors, of superior quality.
For
details on advertising rates, etc., please contact Gary at gary@ardentspirits.com
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