I was reading the summer issue of Drinks, the magazine of Spec’s liquor stores, and came upon an article about Plymouth Sloe Gin. This was something of a fantasy come true, I thought, as I had only read about the Plymouth Sloe Gin, and never tasted it. I assumed that if the Spec’s magazine had a story about it, including the suggestion of drinking it with lemon juice and soda for a refreshing summer fizz, that the product would at least be available at Spec’s stores. So Tipsy was on his way to the liquor store earlier this week, getting supplies for our Tales of the Cocktail kickoff cocktail party, and I asked to check out to see if it was on the shelves yet, and the answer was a negative. Tipsy asked Carter what was the deal, and he said that there was some problem getting the TABC to approve the sale of the product in Texas. (For those outside the lone star state, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is the draconian regulatory agency that takes its sweet ass time approving every new alcohol product that comes to the market in Texas, which is why we are so far behind the times. We have not, for example, gotten Canton on the shelves yet.)

Carter explained that Drinks is a nationally-distributed publication that "Spec's" had contracted with, and their name was only on the cover! Doh! I should have known that it was too good to be true that Spec's would have a magazine with writing by David Wondrich and other cocktail super-powers.

Anyway, we arrive yesterday in New Orleans for Tales only to find out that we have just missed the Plymouth Sloe Gin tasting seminar! This means I am going to have to spend the next few days trying to track down Simon Ford, Plymouth's brand ambassador, to see if I can plead my case with him and get a sample...