Ah, Las Vegas. The mere mention of the city is enough to incite memories of poker, pools and all-night hedonism. With that in mind, there’s no better place than Sin City to host the annual Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show, a five-day gathering place for the nation’s leading nightlife enthusiasts, club owners, bartenders and spirit vendors. This year (March 7-10), Drink Me headed out to partake in the madness for three days (the perfect amount of time, we think, to live it up without losing sanity). Held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the tradeshow acted as the meeting spot for daytime networking, educational seminars and vendor booths. The crowd — a mixture of industry insiders, promotional models and wide-eyed revelers — strolled from one booth to the next with drinks in hand (thanks, free-pouring liquor brands!). From lighting experts and stripper pole sales to bar games and [...]

I don’t remember the last time I entered a bar of any sort that had no music playing, and if I had you’d think about what a boring place that would be to enjoy a drink. I love good tunes wherever I am, whether it’s on the train, at the gym or in the bar. One of my favorite bar amenities is a great jukebox. And when a bar has a jukebox, it provides the vibe and sets the tone. At least it used to before the World Wide Inter-Web took over. Now don’t get me wrong: I like having any song at the click of the button, but it’s also a cop-out. Personally, I prefer the old-school limited-selection type. I like the sound-of-the-page-flipping type of jukebox. So if you love a bar with a jukebox as much as I do, let me lead you to them.

Prior to 1848, not too many folks had heard of San Francisco. There were just a thousand people living here. San Francisco, in fact, had only been part of the United States for a few years, after Mexico decided to hand it over at the barrel of a gun in 1846. The city was sparsely populated, thinly developed, and had an appalling shortage of breweries. My what a difference a little gold can make. In 1848, the precious metal was found to the east of San Francisco, and the population exploded. In 1849, the first brewery in California was established and San Francisco immediately became much more livable. So much so, that by 1850, there were fifty thousand people here. They worked hard in the hills and in the shipyards. And when they came back from a long day, they all had a mind to quench their thirsts with flavorful brews. [...]

Every discipline has its guru. Its Einstein. Its Lennon. Free thinkers have shaped mankind’s process from the dawn of civilization, and the culture of the cocktail is no different. The man who grabbed the world of imbibing by the lapel and tossed it off its barstool right onto its collective ear was Jeremiah “Jerry” P. Thomas. “The Professor,” as he was called, took the art of mixing spirits, juices, and bitters to a level no one before had dared, and he became an American icon in the process. Although the average drinker doesn’t know who Thomas was, he single-handedly changed the way drinks are prepared and consumed in America. With every finely crafted cocktail, you are partaking of the soul of Jerry Thomas, just as every rock-and-roll song is echoing the blues. He was also much more than a barman. He was a showman. He was an experience. He was [...]

Secrets of the Sommeliers Authors: Rajat Parr & Jordan Mackay Subject: Wine Tasting, Buying & Storing Synopsis & Review: To typical diners, a sommelier can appear a bit like Batman — mysterious and hidden in the shadows of a restaurant’s chaos until help is sought by a well-heeled, wine-list-wielding patron. No wonder, really, since there’s never been an insider’s look into the psyche of the sommelier. Until now. Aptly named “Secrets of the Sommeliers,” this tome to understanding, purchasing and savoring classic Old World wines — and their worthy contemporaries — is one of the most relevant books about wine knowledge we’ve seen to date. In contrast to the hundreds of fermented grape guides out there, this is told from the service perspective, which gives collectors and novices alike a rare look into how the finest restaurants in the world run their wine programs. From getting the best deals on [...]

“Public houses,” commonly referred to as pubs, have existed around the world long before anyone brewed so much as a drop of beer on American soil. Some were “free houses,” which could procure their ale from any old brewery they wanted. Others were “tied houses,” meaning that alehouse had a contract with a specific brewery, which just so happened to often own the pub. Historians unearthed records of ancient Egyptian innkeepers who operated brewery and bakery combos. Imagine the Yelp reviews a place that did that well now would get. Today, of the over 1,600 breweries in the US, about a thousand of them are brewpubs, meaning they are breweries that sell most of their draught beer on premise even if bottles and growlers (refillable half-gallon jugs) are available to go. The best of them offer fresh, often local fare, that’s as good as the beer they serve. The Brewers [...]

This past Thursday, Berry Bros. and Rudd, London purveyors of fine spirits and now part owners of Anchor Brewing, released two new spirits at Bourbon and Branch. In the dim lighting of the pseudo-speakeasy, they unveiled their new No.3 London Dry Gin as well as their King’s Ginger liqueur.

The Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas is coming up March 7-9, and Drink Me will be blogging about the latest innovations in the alcohol world. If you’d rather experience the action yourself, tickets are still available for three days of workshops, exhibitions, cocktail competitions and some of the wildest parties around (it’s Vegas, alright). For more information, visit www.ncbshow.com. We hope to see you there!