Cocktails involve more than simply mixing spirits with other liquids. You have to know about mixology, what your drinker wants, and how best to prevent a hangover. And then there’s the philosophy of cocktails and cocktail parties, everything from why women wear cocktail dresses to the philosophy of drinking in literature. If any of these topics pique your interest, then you won’t want to miss the Cocktail Culture Conference April 4-5 at the Brown Hotel and St. Charles Exchange.
The daytime sessions will be held at the Brown Hotel and will be free and open to the public. The topics cover a wide rage. Friday’s sessions are “Cocktail Culture, Idealized Femininity, and the Post-War Cocktail Dress”, “The Cocktail Party in John Dos Passos’ U.S.A. Trilogy”, “Shaken or Stirred? Gender and the Cocktail’s Influence in Film, Culture, and the Media”, “Polynesian Paralysis: Race in a Tiki Mug”, “Cocktail Community and The Case of the Congener: Toward a Metaphoric Understanding of the Limits of Inclusivity and Diversity Politics”, and “’That’s All We Do’: Silence, Drinking, and Teaching Hemingway”. I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of curious about pre-war cocktail dresses and how they’ve changed.
The Friday and Saturday Evening sessions at St. Charles Exchange and require reservations and a $10 wrist band to attend. One of the more interesting topics that will be covered is “Hangovers, Hairs of the Dog, and the Inevitability of Excess”. It seems that everyone has their own favorite hangover remedy (mine is Gatorade and water), so it would be interesting to hear about some others and the history and culture behind them.
The Roundtable guests are a veritable who’s-who of Louisville drinking culture. The first night alone features two of my favorite local Bourbon Authorities- The Filson Historical Society’s Mike Veach and The Kentucky Derby Museum’s Fred Minnick. The Saturday night Roundtable includes Sara Havens, the Leo Weekly Bar Belle, and Bernie Lubbers, the Whiskey Professor at Heaven Hill Distillery. These discussions are sure to be lively and informative.
The Keynote addresses are also sure to be interesting. Click here for more information about the sessions, speakers, and general conference info. And if you have a tried-and-true hangover cure, tweet me @LouGirl502. I’d love to hear about it!
Photos Courtesy of St. Charles Exchange Facebook Page and Shutterstock.com
