Washington’s Top Mixologists
Support Museum of the American Cocktail

By Madelyn Miller, the TravelLady

Three days before Katrina struck New Orleans, I toured Museum of the American Cocktail in a small, makeshift area above a pharmacy in the French Quarter. Various mixologists had contributed their personal memorabilia collections. I left town hours before word of the pending disaster was circulated. And every time I saw Katrina coverage, I thought of the paper menus and bar stirrers and everything in the museum being sopping wet. Of course there were much more important things to think about--but in the back of my mind I thought I would never see those things again.

When I went to one of the tastings at Tales of the Cocktail I realized that cocktails were the next big thing.  Actually, they were probably always a big thing in New Orleans. Now, the museum is scheduled to open July 21 at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum in the Riverwalk Marketplace Mall.

Proof in Washington, DC, has announced its participation in World Cocktail Week, celebrated internationally from May 8-13, 2008, and its sponsorship of an event to benefit the permanent collection of  the Museum of the American Cocktail.

As DC’s first participant in World Cocktail Week, Proof will host a cocktail party and dinner on Monday, May 12, featuring many of the Washington area’s premier mixologists working together for the first time to provide sensational sips for this special evening. Participating mixologists include Adam Bernbach of Bar Pilar, Derek Brown of Komi, Tom Brown of Cork, Gina Chersevani of EatBar, Justin Guthrie of Central, John Hogan of Hudson, Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve, Chantal Tseng of Tabard Inn, Rico Wisnor of Poste, and Sebastian Zutant of Proof.

The evening's festivities will begin at 7:00 p.m. with a cocktail hour that will feature passed hors d'oeuvres and five specialty cocktails created for this event. Proof’s Executive Chef Haidar Karoum will prepare a five-course tasting menu that will be paired with five additional specialty cocktails. Tickets for this exclusive event are very limited, and may be purchased at Proof or by calling the restaurant at (202) 737-7663.

Proof is located at 775 G Street, NW, directly across from the National Portrait Gallery and one block from the Verizon Center and the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro station.

World Cocktail Week is an annual event that celebrates the anniversary of the first known instance "cocktail" was defined in print—May 13, 1806, in the New York newspaper The Balance.

Tales of the Cocktail returns to New Orleans July 16-20, 2008. The sixth annual event will feature seminars, book signings, cooking and cocktail mixing demos, dinner pairings and cocktail parties.

Visit www.proofdc.com and www.museumoftheamericancocktail.org.

Madelyn Miller is a food and travel writer who loves cocktails. Read her stories on www.travellady.com, www.cocktailatlas.com, www.yogayaya.com, www.carladynews.com www.chocolateatlas.com, www.teaAtlas.com, www.coffeeatlas.com

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