Spirits preview of products is most promising

 There is something about Tales of the Cocktail, the huge spirits industry conference that has been held here every July for eight years, that leads one to make epic pronouncements about booze.

Take, for instance, this one from F. Paul Pacult: "Gin is such a lovely invention. There is the wheel, and then there's gin."

Pacult, a critic and the publisher of the influential newsletter Spirits Journal, made that observation during a session on how to "Hone Your Sensory Skills to a Higher Level."

 Do This!

By Aubrey Whelan
  
Saturday
Start your engines
Classic cars once driven for 24 Hours of Le Mans will be displayed Saturday at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum, 6825-31 Norwitch Dr. The race, first held in 1923, is one of the world's best-known endurance racing competitions. Among the cars will be a 1933 Alfa Romeo that once led the race, a 1934 MG K3 Magnette that finished fourth, and a 1936 Aston Martin Le Mans, built specifically for the race. You can see the cars being driven on a three-acre lot at the museum and attend a brief lecture on their historical significance. The demonstration begins at noon, with a free museum tour at 2 p.m. Tickets: $12, $10 for seniors, $8 for students, free 8 and younger. Group discounts are available. Information: 215-365-7233 or simeonefoundation.org.

Imbibification: Art In The Age’s SNAP

Already making the souped-up root beer hooch ROOT, AITA’s launching SNAP, using a colonial American recipe to make an 80-proof liquor capturing the full essence of ginger — presumably, no matter how long the booze’s in the sun, it’ll never get a tan(queray).

Clicking this link’ll tell you which PLCB shops carry the bottles.

Hitting up www.artintheage.com will get you cocktails and recipes that’ll let you use it.

Toast To Tales

Tales of the Cocktail  kicked into full gear today. The seminars on this first day are all “professional track,” geared toward industry professionals, with topics like “Raising the Bar: Spirited Media Skills for Cocktail & Industry Professionals.” I’m anything but a professional, so I did not attend any of these, but there was still plenty to do.

Jam and Slam
First Person Arts is throwing a party. Want to come?

During show and tell, what you had to say about your Pog collection, pet rock or family heirloom was ostensibly as important, if not more so, than the item you shared. Perhaps that's what the folks at First Person Arts had in mind when they selected "Show and Tell" as the theme for their next StorySlam.

But this is no ordinary slam. It's a Grand Slam, wherein winners of past events will duke it out for the enviable title "Best Storyteller in Philadelphia." For the past three years, First Person Arts has incorporated Grand Slams into its annual fall First Person Festival, but the Summer Grand Slam and Block Party will be a standalone over-sharing extravaganza complete with barbecue, beer and music.

SFist Drinks: The Root of All Evil at Blackbird

Ever since opening last summer, Blackbird (2124 Market Street) has been a welcome and busy addition to the Castro / Church Street environs, and one of the only truly mixed scenes in the neighborhood — though it remains mostly gay, especially at happy hour. Owner and bar program creator Shawn Vergara is on the third iteration of his house cocktail menu, and he's got one on the list now made with a relatively new spirit: Root liqueur, which is sort of a classier version of DeKuyper's Root Beer Schnapps, with rich spicy flavors that are still reminiscent of root beer.