Paul's Spirited Travel
Spirited Travel: 2020 Tales of the Cocktail Rum Recap
The last full week of September found spirit industry professionals gathering around their computers and participating in this year’s Virtual Tales of the Cocktail. Usually Tales of the Cocktail happens in New Orleans in July, but due to COVID-19 it was moved to a virtual format with carefully chosen content to help educate all levels of the hospitality industry, from bartenders to owners. These seminars covered everything from spirit history, cocktails, health and wellness, modern challenges in the hospitality industry, and bar recovery in a COVID world along with the yearly Spirited Awards and Dame Hall of Fame honors that make the event such a special part of the Hospitality industry.
As we began the week I was curious to see what the level of participation would be like and it was good to see so many people in the industry virtually engaged in the programming. As far as the rum category, things started with a bang with the Campari Academy presenting Meet the Masters: Distillers edition featuring Master Blender Joy Spence of Appleton Estate Rum, Dr. Ivan Saldana of Montelobos Mezcal, and Master Blender Eddie Russell of Wild Turkey. Moderated by Jessamine McLellan, she took the audience to three distilleries, in three countries to meet the masters behind each brand. Joy Spence guided the audience through her personal history with J. Wray/Appleton and described Appleton Estates processes to create their rum. In the Q and A portion she discussed the new bottle designs, Apple Estate 8 Reserve rum and was excited to announce a limited edition line of 100% pot still rums that will be released in partnership with Luca Gargano of La Maison & Velier. This “Hearts Collection” is certain to excite fans of Jamaican Pot Still Rum products. I enjoyed learning from the other speakers and overall it was an hour well spent.
The second day was full of great programming and once we made it to the afternoon we joined Ian Burrell for a Sugar Cane Spirits 101 seminar sponsored by Bacardi Rum, Banks Rum, Leblon Cachaca, and Santa Teresa Rum. This introduction to the Cane Spirits category was loaded with great information for participants who are starting down the path of improving their knowledge of what is behind their bars and the best way to use our favorite spirit in cocktails. Next up, Bacardi offered a Sensory Lab that paired nicely with Cane Spirits 101 seminar as it delved into how our sense of smell dictates our cocktail experiences and how we enjoy them. While I participated in other seminars, I wrapped the day up with Camper English’s Cocktail Safe: Dangerous Cocktail Ingredients seminar. I recommend anyone interested in the subject tracking it down on YouTube. It is well worth your time.
Wednesday was the last day of the four day event with rum programming. The team at Maison Ferrand presented: The Museum of Rum Distillation: Exploring the Ancient Secrets of Rum. The event started with an informative video showcasing the West Indies Rum Distillery in Barbados and moved on to the Clarendon and Long Pond Distilleries in Jamaica which are all wholly or in part owned by Ferrand. Sadly the question and answer portion was plagued by technical issues so moderator Dave Wondrich took the weight of the situation and did his best to turn a negative into a positive until Alexandre Gabriel could join the seminar via phone. Wondrich and Gabriel did answer a few questions related to rum history, stills, distillation, and when asked about the announced plans to change the Plantation brand name, Mr. Gabriel stated that the rebranding is a work in progress, but nowhere close to be being finalized. I feel that while the information communicated was good, the seminar may have missed the mark of what they originally wanted it to share, and hope we get to see that at a later date.
Tales of the cocktail
During the event I watched several seminars on subjects that helped me improve my knowledge as a writer and cocktail maker, however my final session of the day entitled Avoiding Performative Wokeness and Instituting Real Change in Hospitality moderated by Jackie Summers was one of the most enlightening. The first all Black Tales of the Cocktail panel was filled with industry luminaries covering different facets of the spirits industry and discussing how the Black Lives Movement should be affecting positive growth in the hospitality industry. In my opinion, if you are going to watch one session on YouTube, this is the one you should take the time to observe and learn from what this outstanding panel had to share with the audience.
Finally, the last day of Tales arrived and after some technical difficulties with the platform we were off and running. Throughout the event there was a series of educational programs led by the Italian Trade commission about Italian spirits that I personally enjoyed and Thursday they wrapped that up with a fun talk about Apertivos. Next up on my schedule was Appropriation vs. Appreciation: Showing Respect for Latin and LatinX Culture and Contributions, and the Roundtable: Creating Pathways: Women in Spirits personally were inspirational and gave me a lot to think about concerning both subjects.
As the programming shifted to the annual Spirits Awards I took a moment to consider this year’s Tales theme: Catalyst, born out of a desire to facilitate innovation and transformation in the hospitality industry. Caroline Rosen, Tales of the Cocktail President, mentioned in a letter that this theme was chosen before the global pandemic, but fit the virtual format for the event this year. I have to agree as some of my favorite seminars involved the current state of the industry, where it is now, and the changes that have to be made to help bars and restaurants survive until things can return to normal operations. The conversations witnessed at times were daunting, worrisome, and uncomfortable, but at the end of the day found myself hopeful for the future of the hospitality industry. I appreciate the Herculean effort the Tales of the Cocktail team put forward to make this happen and hope we all get together in person at the event next year.
-Article written by Paul Senft-