On a cold winter night in New England, we warmed up at the historic home of Argentine natives Vera and Carlos, with Carlos’ empanadas accompanied by Malbec Rosés. Carlos made low fat empanadas, which some people (son Marcel) quibbled with – though the rest of us were pleased, given the amount of holiday cookies we’d already started consuming.
There were three roses, all different, and we were equally divided on our favorites. With the beef empanadas, I liked the simple 2011 Michel Torino, young and even a bit spicy in flavor. The 2010 Gauchezco was more layered, with citrus and minerality, and was an overall favorite of about a third of us.
Then came the 2010 Crios, with a thicker mouthfeel and raspberry notes. Once we saw the name of the legendary Susana Balbo, we knew we were in for a treat. But the most interesting element came during the dessert course: peel a tangerine, and its scent on your skin enhances each sip of her rosé.

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Start at 14. Most guys probably start around then, just not officially. But if you’re seriously interested in the spirits business – as opposed to just drinking – you can become a Brand Ambassador and travel the world. Like Paul Franich. His official title is “Brand Raconteur” – very classy.

Paul has been training since, as a young teen, he and a friend stole tastes from the friend’s liquor cabinet. The friend’s father was well-traveled, and that’s where Paul started to develop his global tastes.

A few years later, Paul’s older brothers were sneaking him samples when they bartended, and by 15 or 16 Paul was in love with this industry. His brothers went on to become respectable businessmen, Paul reports, but he himself stayed in the bar. Many bars, actually.

After bartending for a number of years in his native New Zealand, Franich moved to New York City in 2004. There, he revived his relationship with the New Zealand brand 42Below which he had helped launch in 2000, while working Wellington NZ.

He has the requisite New Zealand accent to represent 42Below, but he must have something else. He does. He has a philosophy. He maintains: “I’m true to the bartender.” When Paul goes into a new bar, he orders a drink, maybe two or three, and hangs out, scopes things out. He doesn’t announce himself right away as a 42Below representative. “That’s too cocky,” he states. “I want them to see me as a plain person,” he explains, before he starts telling them about the vodka. He travels around the US, introducing the four flavors of 42Below vodka, and running cocktail-creating contests for mixologists.

Having been a bartender himself, he also knows how to run a contest. When I met him, he was wearing a dark, slim-cut suit, a white dress shirt and a large black velvet bowtie. I was judging the regional finals of the 42Below Cocktail World Cup in Boston. The Boston bartenders were judged on their presentation of themselves, not just their drinks. Paul told me he looks for someone who can put on a good show. At the ripe old age of 30-something, he’s dismayed when he finds that “personality can be lacking in young bartenders today…I want to be entertained!”

As emcee, Paul set the tone and “put on a good show” himself, that evening in January. Of course it doesn’t hurt that there were carnival contortionists and dancers to inspire the audience as well as the participants; the parent company of 42Below, Bacardi really knows how to party.

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1. Root beer vodka: most fun drink this summer. Really.

If you’re a person who knows an awful lot about wine, your next challenge may be tea. After attending a seminar given by Teamaster Chas Kroll at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel, I was intrigued to learn about the subtleties of aroma and taste. Used to tasting wine, I wasn’t sure how to approach this, but it turned out fine. I liked learning about the size of the leaves, when they were picked, how they were “fermented” and how to brew and drink. In a few hours, I came out of a session feeling I had a grasp of the concept, and could take the subtleties as far as I wanted.
Our Tea Master had led us through a variety of green, white and yellow, oolong and black teas in a Chinese style tea tasting — which is about a million times simpler than a Japanese tea ceremony, as I understand it. The Chinese ceremony is about the tea and the guest, not the ceremony.
Two days later, I went to a friend’s house where someone had just brought back a gift of teas from China. I knew exactly what to do: steep for 2 minutes and serve immediately in tiny cups. Inhale the fragrance, drink, and inhale the fragrance from the empty cup again.

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Just finished proofreading our new cookbook yesterday — hooray! My mind is swimming (pun intended) with recipes for seafood, stews, pies, cakes…no wonder I’m always hungry?

The American Lighthouse Cookbook on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1581826761

pub date: September 1

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1. Coming Soon: American Lighthouse Cookbook
2. American Lighthouse Cookbook

Suppose you had a chance to taste a fine scotch that had been blended 30 or 40 years ago, and forgotten in the back of a prime distillery in Scotland?  I jumped at the chance, and found my tiny portion of The Last Drop full of layered nuances from cocoa and leather to smoke, cherry and caramel.

James Esty and his cohorts — all spirits industry veterans in their 60s, 70s and 80s — have created a new brand.  Now, even if I can’t afford the $2,000 for a bottle of The Last Drop right now, I will be very eager to see what he brings to the table — or the glass — next year!

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…where people post notes on every bottle of wine they’re drinking?  Yet, I am sometimes tempted to do this.  Why? Vanity — assuming people care what I drink — probably has more to do with it than anything else.

As a wine writer, maybe I want to let people know about interesting bottles.  Should I post or not?  We’ll se…

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