Link: Well, guess I'm buying Imbibe! again →

From a Grub Street interview with Imbibe! author David Wondrich:

There’s new material on drinks in the new book, particularly the history of the Julep, which you say is a much older drink than previously thought. 
It’s a much earlier drink. In 1770, in Virginia, there are two solid references to the julep being a recreational drink. That’s a big deal, I think. I had looked at the part on the julep in the original edition and I was shocked and disappointed. I wrote almost nothing about it. I wanted to kick myself, because that’s the most important drink.

You call it the “first true American drink.”
It’s a foundational drink. It’s how we started to be different. The mint julep is also the only drink that I’ve championed that hasn’t been revived yet.

Really? People make nice mint juleps at many places.
Some. Not so much. Nobody really specializes in them. People will make them if you ask.

And it was a brandy drink originally?
In the 1700s, it was a rum drink. The Revolutionary War years and a little after, a whiskey drink. Once the country got rich again and started making money again, it was a brandy drink, up until the Civil War.

Let's talk rum, live and in person

I'm delighted to be giving the first ever symposium at the annual Tiki Caliente event in Palm Springs, CA. Now in its 7th incarnation, Tiki Caliente is a celebration of tiki in the desert and this year is moving back to the historic Caliente Tropics, a mid-century tiki classic location, and the original home of both Tiki Oasis and Tiki Caliente.

Anyway, seating is limited to 50. Tickets are $40 each, which includes 3 rum tastings, 2 cocktails, and 1 seat inside away from the desert heat and with an air conditioner. Tickets are available at the Tiki Caliente website. If you'll be in the area on May 16, 2015, consider checking it out. 

Rum 103: An introduction to the 3 primary styles of rum and how use them.

If you've ever glanced at a vintage Donn Beach cocktail recipe, you know of rum's importance in tropical cocktails. Heck, Don's vaunted rum rhapsodies depend on having a variety of the stuff on hand. So what gives - what's with all those different types of rums anyway?

Come discover - and taste - the basics about rum and its 3 primary styles: Spanish, French, and English. Then learn how to deploy those styles, alone and together, into classic cocktails as we dig into the Navy Grog.