Tales of the Cocktail Heads to Vancouver
Tales on Tour is an intoxicating tease and taste of the summer spirits fest.
Everyone who is anyone worth their weight in whiskey and in the line of imbibing, pours in to the Crescent City each summer with their people in tow and a glass in hand to get their booze grove on at NOLA’s Tales of the Cocktail.
The little cocktail fest that could is now a big, money making business, not only for the city of New Orleans, but for every facet of the liquid industry. Everyone from distributors to suppliers, big and boutique brands, hoteliers, restaurateurs, members of all forms of media and the almighty celebrity styled brand ambassadors mark their overbooked cocktail calendars well in advance, a year at least, to ensure their attendance for the most intoxicating event of the year.
In between the opening and closing of a Tales, a lot of business and boozing goes down throughout the shmooze-a-palooza. The big buzz each year is about both capturing and setting liquid trends and taking note of the latest “it” bars and stars. It’s all about staying ahead of that cocktail curve. There’s no room for yesterday’s booze news, unless of course you dip back to the classic cocktail era, which is forever being revisited and reinterpreted.
Tales is such a cocktail cultural phenomenon, it has since gone global. Next week Tales of the Cocktail heads to the Pacific Northwest, across the Canadian border to the city of Vancouver to kick off its second Canadian cocktail venture on February 12th and will run through the 15th.
Why Vancouver? Paul Tuennerman, co-founder of Tales with his wife Ann Tuennerman says, “The Tales on Tour concept was designed to be a snap shot of the annual event and encourage the global exchange, which has made Tales of the Cocktail, the standard for cocktail events, throughout the world.”
If curious about the local Canadian cocktail trends, Trevor Kallies of the Donnelly Group, Vancouver’s multi-concept hospitality group, ranging in all forms of nightlife from club to cocktail lounge says, “Most bars here are extremely passionate about classic cocktails and the twist. Whiskey and Amari are running rampant throughout all bars depending upon which brands are available in a harsh government-run liquor industry. It is not uncommon to find a barrel or two (or eight) behind the bars aging all from basic spirits to cocktail to house made bitters.”
True to the brand, Tales Vancouver is presenting a loaded line up on all fronts from spirit seminars, which are as fresh as the cocktails they’re crafting to tastings, bar crawls, soirees and spirit dinners where cocktails are meticulously pair with the Canadian cuisine.
If tippling in town, be sure to savor Sweetapple’s Roaming Buffalo Punch, the official cocktail of the festival. Jacob Sweetapple, the bar manager of Vancouver’s award winning restaurant Chamber, won the Canadian wide cocktail competition with his drink made with roasted almond infused Buffalo Trace, ginger beer and barrel aged Cointreau. Garnished with cinnamon sticks, cloves and a star of anise, it’s sure to set the spirited tone.
When asking Paul Tuennerman, a.k.a Mr. Cocktail, what’s next for Tales on the global front, he said, “I could tell you, but then I would have it kill you.” I left that puppy alone as I would die if I couldn’t attend another Tales.
I’ll see you at the bar…
Images by Karen Loftus
