At least I didn't cut my ear off.

I had a bad experience with absinthe once. I was with a bunch of friends and we went to a flatparty somewhere in Manchester. We were greeted at the door by the lovely girl who lived there who offered us a tray of green shots. Apple Sourz? Don't mind if I do... I remember literally nothing else of the night.

In other news, US bartenders vs. the rest of the world in Simon Difford's Cabinet Room, battling for inclusion in La Fée's definitive guide to absinthe cocktails? Might be time to reacquaint myself with some green fairytales.

Absinthe Cocktail Grand Prix.

It's the same hat.

Great article over at SFGate about cocktail competitions. Also notable for proving that there's really only one style of hat for the professional bartender.

Spirits: The cocktail arena - why so competitive?

The British are coming!*

* Not really. Interesting stuff in the latest batch of videos posted at the Small Screen Network - Hendrick's Gin brand champion (now that's a job title) Charlotte Voisey on a hypothetical British invasion of the American cocktail hour.

Using tea and jam in cocktails isn't particularly new to me - but some of the local bartending legends operate near the bleeding edge of mixology. At any rate, there's a bunch on interesting information here and the revelation that a good proportion of TotC attendees wear stupid hats.