Last night I settled into the Monteleone hotel, had a mediocre (and fruit-filled) Old Fashioned at the Carousel Bar, took a stroll along the water, and stepped into the Chart Room for a much better Old Fashioned courtesy of Lisa, where I met a nice man in from London to sling Bombay Sapphire (I was polite, but I did warn him, perhaps unnecessarily, that some attendees won’t be shaken from believing it’s more of a flavored vodka, no matter how similar it tastes to the Plymouth they adore) named, of all things, Merlin.

Today I had brunch at Flanagan’s, observed the kickoff event (on the street in front of the Monteleone), tasted this year’s “signature cocktail” (the Creole Julep, sufficiently lauded on the Tales web site) and an Herbsaint Frappé (which I expect I’ll see more of at the Herbsaint event this evening).

Beyond the side events (like the Herbsaint thing), here’s my agenda:

Wednesday
16:30 – The Fine Art of Banging Out the Drinks like a Maniac

Thursday
10:30 – Mixologists and Their Toys
12:30 – The Molecular DNA of Classic Cocktails
14:30 – Chemistry of Cocktails
16:30 – New Orleans Pharmacists
Cocktail Hour

Friday
10:30 – Cocktails of the Tales
12:30 – Low Country Libations
14:30 – Cocktails Born from the Seven Seas
16:30 – Drink Italy
On the Fly Competition

Saturday
10:30 – Cocktail Legends
12:30 – Historical Approach to Cocktails
14:30 – Hammer of the Gods
16:30 – The Science of Shaking
7 Deadly Sins

Sunday
10:30 – Paying the Piper: Your Hangover and you
12:30 – Liquid Nudging

Any questions? Suggestions?