Tales of the Cocktail Kicks Off Today
One of the booziest events of the year is about to go down in NOLA.
The 11th annual Tales of the Cocktail, the world's premier cocktail festival, begins today in New Orleans, Louisiana, and spirit experts and enthusiasts alike will descend upon the city over the next five days to discuss cocktail culture and drink new spirits. The festival hosts educational seminars, tasting rooms, dinners and competitions, and the biggest talents in mixology are expected to attend.
Cocktail nerds will geek out over topics like vodka's image as a fashion statement, whether American whisky can match Scotch and the history of ice and trends such as grape-based spirits, long-lost 19th century cocktail ingredients and low-alcohol drinks.
Not to be missed are the New Orleans Bare Knuckle Bar Fight, a cocktail-mixing competition where seven of the best bars in the U.S. serve 1,000 attendees while being judged for execution under pressure and drink tastiness, and the Spirited Awards, honoring the industry's best. Past years of Tales of the Cocktail have hosted the Annual Cocktail Burial, symbolically laying to rest out-of-favor drinks like the Appletini, the Sex on the Beach and last year's the Cement Mixer.
Get in the spirit by fixing yourself a classic like this year's official drink, The Rickey, (our Raspberry-Rose version is delicious) or try one of our favorite cocktails for summer.
Check out our slideshow above to discover our must-try cocktails for summer.
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