G\u2019day, fans of Kathy Casey.\u00a0 My name is Keith Waldbauer.\u00a0 I\u2019m the new guy, her recently brought-on Associate Mixologist.\u00a0 Really nice to meet you.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be contributing to this blog from time-to-time, and I thought it might be a good idea to take a minute to introduce myself and let you know not only who the heck I am, but, also, what we\u2019re up to here at Liquid Kitchen.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been bartending in Seattle for several years now, most recently having helped open Barrio, the new Mexican restaurant\/cocktail bar on Capital Hill.\u00a0 Prior to that, I manned the bar at Union, the flagship restaurant in the Ethan Stowell empire.\u00a0 Through that time, I\u2019ve been featured in the Seattle Times, the Seattle Weekly, the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the Stranger and Imbibe Magazine.\u00a0 Last year I was nominated for a Rising Star Mixologist Award from StarChefs.com.\u00a0 The man I lost to, Jim Romdall, is the bar manager at the current bar I work at, Vessel.\u00a0 Vessel, if you have not been, is widely considered to be one of the best cocktail lounges in Seattle, if not the world.\u00a0 If you\u2019re ever downtown and feeling thirsty, hit us up on 5th Avenue right next door to the Fifth Avenue Theatre…. we\u2019re pretty good at scratching that itch.<\/p>\n
So, okay, that\u2019s me.\u00a0 It\u2019s nice to meet you.\u00a0 Now that we\u2019re all caught up,\u00a0 let\u2019s talk about what we\u2019re up to at Liquid Kitchen.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s currently 9:15 a.m. in New Orleans, 7:15 a.m. in Seattle, and I\u2019m sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Monteleone, epicenter for the Tales of the Cocktail event held here annually.\u00a0 The people walking around me are the luminaries of our tiny little piece of the culinary world;\u00a0 world-famous bartenders and bar impresarios, cocktail book writers, spirit representatives and enthusiasts.\u00a0 In short, the entire galaxy of the world cocktail culture\/revolution gathered together within a single hotel.\u00a0 And Liquid Kitchen is smack dab in the middle of it.<\/p>\n
So, while Kathy Casey, Cameo McRoberts and I wait for drinks at the understandably understaffed hotel bar (the world-famous Carousel Bar, home of the classic Vieux Carre cocktail, recipe to follow), we\u2019ll be filing posts on at least 20 percent of the shenanigans, seminars and events.\u00a0 If you were here with us, you\u2019d know that 20 percent is a rather generous number… but let\u2019s not get into that just yet.\u00a0 Instead, let\u2019s talk about the events and seminars we\u2019re partaking in.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, actually, was a busy day for us.\u00a0 Kathy was an integral part of two panels, one regarding managing the rising costs of goods, the other involving beverage consultation.\u00a0 Kathy is, as you know, uniquely qualified to speak on these topics.\u00a0 Her background as both chef and bartending consultant gave the audience a perspective unlike anybody else here at the conference and she was magnificent.\u00a0 Outside of the conference, Kathy, Cameo and I have eaten very very well;\u00a0 it\u2019s New Orleans, after all.\u00a0 Yesterday was lunch at the world famous Napolean House with muffulettas and Pimm\u2019s Cups.\u00a0 Dinner last night should be its own epic blog posting, but let\u2019s just say I\u2019ve been looking forward to returning to Cochon for a year now and it DID NOT disappoint.\u00a0 We were accompanied by Liza Zimmerman of Cheers magazine and her wonderful and hilarious posse.\u00a0<\/p>\n