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Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Beer Connoisseur magazine coming to town
President and publisher Lynn Davis sends along news that the new beer publication has decided that Austin is the place to celebrate their national launch: The event is from 4-8 p.m. Feb. 27 at Austin’s own Independence Brewing. There’s a pre-game show at the Ginger Man from noon-2 and sober shuttle service available between the two venues.
So why Austin? Davis says via an edited e-mail below:
All the pieces fit for us to come to Austin. It is the most logical “first step out of Atlanta” for a variety of reasons.
From a logistical standpoint its very easy. We have good friends who live in Austin who actually moved to Austin from our stomping grounds…
We met the Independence folks at the GABF last year and really got along with them. They were excited to have us and we have been eager to have this event with them since the GABF.
The craft beer scene in and around Austin seems to be really taking off with the promise of a couple new breweries coming to your area. It’s no secret that Austin contains an energetic and vibrant social scene and craft beer seems to be having a stronger grip in and around Austin. Its a great opportunity for us to introduce our magazine and at the same time heighten the awareness of craft beer and the breweries in Austin. Breweries by themselves draw attention, but when you combine a brewery with a beer magazine it can really draw focus to the craft beer scene in the area.
Press release below, and sorry for the lack of links. You remember how to cut and paste, right?
Come join the Beer Connoisseur Magazine as it makes its debut national appearance for its Spring Issue Release Party at Independence Brewing Company in Austin, Texas!
Mingle with the Founder/Publisher, Managing Editor, writers and staff as well as with Austin’s most notable beer figures. Taste Independence Brewing Company beer while listening to live music and enjoying Austin Eats. Also help BC Magazine raise money for the Haiti recovery efforts by joining in a raffle for fantastic prizes donated by the industry.
$15 tickets In advance $20 at door for RSVP’s only. RSVP full name to editorial@beerconnoisseur.com Entry includes a copy of BC’s Spring Issue 2, Beer Tastings, Brewery Tours, Live Music, Photographer and more. Food available for purchase Raffle for prizes for Hatian relief
PURCHASE TICKETS: http://xorbia.com/tickets/beerconnoisseur/ VIEW ONLINE INVITATION: http://www.beerconnoisseur.com/emailmarketing/austin/austin.html
PRE PARTY AND POST PARTY at THE GINGER MAN
12 - 4pm and 8:30pm to close Enjoy $.50 off draft and $2 off pitchers with show of your event ticket.
Meet the BC staff in a more relaxed setting from 12 - 2 PM and have your picture taken for consideration for the Summer issue. Then catch the event Uship shuttle to the brewery for the evenings main event. At the conclusion of the party, catch a sober ride back to The Ginger Man on the Uship shuttle and enjoy the same post-party discounts!
The Ginger Man 301 Lavaca St Austin, TX 78701 (512) 473-8801 http://www.gingermanpub.com
Brought to you by The Beer Connoisseur™ Magazine and Independence Brewing Company.
Safe shuttle/bus service from brewery to downtown provided by Uship.com http://www.uship.com
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“History in a glass”
That’s the Sazerac, “the official cocktail of New Orleans.” Tuesday Tales of the Cocktail[’s founder Ann Tuennerman (she of the New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society led a bunch of Austin’s finest mixologists and, uh, me, through a delightful history class and cocktail party on the Sazerac in an effort to revive the classic drink. It was Fat Tuesday — how could I not go?
The Sazerac is sometimes touted as America’s first cocktail, or the oldest cocktail, or something. Whatever the case it’s a fascinating history that goes back to around 1975, when one Antoine Amedee Peychaud came from what is now Haiti to New Orleans with his family’s bitters recipe. Peychaud ran an apothecary and became renowned for serving toddies with his bitters in an egg cup — the precursor to the steel jiggers that are ubiquitous in bars today.
Then there were two soldiers in World War I, J.M. Legendre and Reginald Parker, who learned how to make absinthe while serving in France. They returned to New Orleans to make Herbsaint (Creole, roughly, for wormwood), a substitute for absinthe. Convenient, that, because true absinthe was banned in the U.S. beginning in 1912. And during Prohibition Herbsaint was…medicine. Yay.
Then there’s the legendary Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel. Ready-made Sazerac in a bottle was available for a time. Every single ingredient has a story to tell, and the drink is a huge part of New Orleans’ cultural heritage. Tennessee Williams drank them, you know.
So there I am with some of the best drink-slingers in town, people who go to international competitions and win, and at the end of the class we get to make our own. First thing we do is fill a glass with ice, then we muld a sugar cube with two dashes of bitters. Tuennerman asks us to display our results and says, “Yes. Patrick, that’s very good.” Then I realize I’d used the rounded end, the wrong end, to smash the cube. And there was the telltale red stain. No hiding that.
Oh, shame. Oh, humiliation.
Here’s the recipe as it was given to us. We were told Herbsaint isn’t available right now in our market but I guess you could use absinthe. Distillation resumed here in 2007, after the ban was sensibly repealed.
Pack and Old-Fashioned glass with ice.
In a second glass place the sugar cube and Peychaud’s Bitters and crush the sugar, ideally with the right end of the mulder.
Add 1.5 oz. Sazerac rye whiskey (Cognac was used originally) to the glass containing sugar and bitters.
Empty the ice from the first glass, coat the glass with Herbsaint and discard Herbsaint. (Really, you don’t want too much of that unless you really love black licorice.)
Empty the whiskey, bitters and sugar mixture from the second glass into the first glass. Garnish with lemon peel and laissez les bon temps roulez.
