A few months back I decided that the industry’s big annual conference, Tales of the Cocktail, was a perfect excuse to take a trip to New Orleans. (It doesn’t take much to visit that city.) So on Tuesday I packed up my bags and hopped on down to the big easy.

Not much went on Tuesday at Tales. I registered, checked out some good stuff in the tasting room, including a tequila (Riazul Anejo) I’d never heard of before but quite enjoyed. I grabbed dinner in the lobby and then was in bed by 9 p.m. because I’d gotten up at 6, after 4 hours of sleep, to catch my plane and figured sleep would be difficult to come by at best for the next few days. I did, of course, have to have one Vieux Carré with dinner, because if you come to New Orleans and don’t drink at least one Vieux Carré you’re an asshole. And I didn’t want to start my trip by being an asshole.

12 hours of sleep and a quick “gym” session (quotes because of lack of free weights) and I was ready to go for Wednesday….