I just got back from a historic preservation conference and because I had just finished the fourth of four deadlines, I ended up taking a session purely for fun: Cheers to Heritage: The Cultural Significance of Cocktails. The speaker, Frederic Yarm was a fantastic speaker. Not an expert one, but a passionate and informed one. He's got a Harvard PhD in biochemistry and is a bartender and author.
He went over the history of craft cocktails through it's near demise during The Prohibition (it wasn't the fantasy we experience going to a speakeasy today) and its rebirth. He talked about the 1919 Great Molasses Flood and other writers like Charles H. Baker Jr and Dale DeGroff. He's been very generous and posted his slide deck on LinkedIn. I recommend checking it out!
If books are more your jam, he's written two books:
Drink & Tell: A Boston Cocktail Book
Boston Cocktails: Drink & Told
During the happy hour "marketplace" (not coincidentally immediately after the session) Fred bartended and the line was long, but it was worth it. I got a Saratoga and while I'm not a rye whiskey fan, I am when it's mixed with cognac, sweet vermouth, bitters, and Benedictine. It was delicious.
Hope you have gotten to enjoy yourself a little lately!
2 comments:
That sounds like so much fun!
It really was. I'm so glad I did it!
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