Drinking in Cyberspace
by Natalie Bovis-Nelsen, TheLiquidMuse.com
“The Aviation cocktail was like a secret handshake into the club,” said David Wondrich, author of several mixology guides. He was discussing the evolution of online cocktail culture and the resurgence of classic cocktails during the prestigious Beverage Alcohol Resource (B.A.R.) spirits accreditation program. But how does a cocktail nerd, sitting alone in front of a computer, mixing concoctions from the annals of history – and then blogging about it – influence modern-day drinking, if at all?
The return of cocktail culture over the last decade can be attributed to many factors in pop-culture: snazzier marketing by spirits execs; a desperate need for glamor after the ”grunge” fad of the 90s; the Sex and the City gals swigging Cosmos and bagging hot men on TV; not to mention the popularity of a little film called ”Swingers” which resonated with the 20-and-30-somethings and sparked a boom in swing dancing. Over the last 10 years or so, we’ve developed a heightened awareness that the swimming pool sized Apple Pucker Martinis– which left us with pounding heads and florescent green tongues – were neither good tasting, nor martinis.
Meanwhile, the ”Web log” craze swelled on the Internet, reaching an expanded demographic that older print publications couldn’t entice. The younger foodies and cocktailians didn’t necessarily follow every issue of Wine Spectator or Gourmet Magazine, but they did subscribe to their favorite blogs. Written by people in their peer group who were passionate about quality eating and drinking, the posts provided an immediate, honest, intimate account of the blogger’s experience and opinions.
In April 2006, I jumped on board and started blogging about the Cocktail Culture Renaissance under the guise of “The Liquid Muse.” My musings began to attract a following, and soon national magazines were reaching out to me asking for cocktail-related articles. Spirits companies soon caught on and product samples showed up at my door, accompanied by requests for reviews on my site.
“The spirits industry has begun to embrace cocktail bloggers,” says Ted Haigh (aka: Dr. Cocktail). “In a word, it is working…The benefit to the industry is a more genuine, heartfelt promotion of the product at hand…As a result of the Web, we as individuals get to make skewering commentary on distilled products. This serves to improve the quality of the beverages we get here and now.” The revised edition of Haigh’s book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails includes a section on drink bloggers and their role in digging up the cocktailian past.
I began to realize that there was an entire community of cocktail bloggers on the Web; it was an arena to glorify or crucify products and trends, and a forum to swap recipes. Paul Clarke (CocktailChronicles.com) kicked off his now infamous Mixology Mondays, inviting a different blog each month to host an online cocktail party to which other bloggers could send recipes and photos. Clarke also heads up the Tales Blog (TalesBlog.com), which chronicles the Tales of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans.
While some bloggers tend bar, many are merely interested in finding better ways to drink. Marleigh Riggins (Sloshed.com) is a graphic designer by trade. She notes: “People reading our sites who had never considered making anything more than a Gin and Tonic at home are having the same sort of ‘hey, I could do that’ revelation I did when I got my first cocktail book, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, [which] completely blew my mind and made me a cocktail disciple.”
Craig Mruseck (DrBamboo.com) along with Gabriel Szaszko (Cocktailnerd.com) and Rick Kaiser (KaiserPenguin.com) are a few of the founders of a weekly online cocktail party at Mixoloseum.com. This live chat takes place every Thursday at 7pm EST, with bloggers making drinks and discussing them in real time with some participants as far flung as Europe and Australia. Discussions can also be downloaded and read later. As the hours wear on and several libations have been enjoyed in cyberspace, one can almost hear the occasional slur from the keyboard.
The way people order is largely influenced by what they read online. Restaurant and bar patrons want the best experience and rely on Web sites to help guide them to it. With more people entertaining at home, cocktail blogs are providing a quick and easy crash course in what to drink and how to drink it.
At the end of the day, nothing will replace the experience of enjoying a quality drink made by a skilled bartender in a brick-and-mortar bar with friends you can actually reach out and touch. However, for those living in a cultural wasteland, there is a never-ending cocktail party online. As the saying goes, its always 5 o’clock somewhere.
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