:: fred's top 10 cocktail moments of 2023 ::

Back in 2010, someone asked what my favorite cocktail that year was, and I decided not only to start a list of my favorite drinks, but I decided to list the top moments of the previous 12 months. So to continue with the tradition, here is the 14th annual installment:

1. Did some writing.
Besides coming in at just over 360 posts this year (it adds up to under a post a day due to my week away in Oaxaca), I finished up my fourth and final article for Edible Boston and Edible Worcester with a tribute to a Spring-time generated ingredient that is often associated with Fall and Winter flavors with my treatise Love and Maple Syrup. I included tales of our adventures to local maple syrup farms, a mention of Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass that I read for Camper English's book club, and three cocktails of mine using that very New England sweetener. Overall it was not only an honor but a fun one to take a trip around the sun and think about seasonality in what we drink as I covered herbs and Smashes, apples, and hearty egg drinks in the prior three seasons.

2. Gave some talks.
In January, I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, to spend a week with the Convite brand. One of the requirements besides doing two guest shifts at their bar was to give a master class. The class I gave was on Mindful Bartending based off of things I learned from Gary Regan, life experiences, and other resources, and I gave this to a room full of 30 young bartenders (and translated into Spanish by Chicago bartender Jorge Vallejo who joined me on this adventure). I also took questions and transcribed my response to one I fielded on how new bartenders can feel less nervous at work. The second talk I did was for Boston Rum Week in September entitled "Rum Choice for Cocktails: How to classify rums, understand their flavors, and use what you've got". I covered the history of rum classification systems, what it means for cocktails especially as rums change over time and islands diversify their products, how to utilize your collection to make the best drink, and advice on pairing rum with different spirits. Here is a promotional interview I did, and I uploaded my slidedeck onto Google Drive. 3. Appeared on podcasts.
In February, the Bartender at Large episode that I recorded with Erick Castro late last year finally aired. Erick's description was, "Join us as we sit down with Frederic Yarm, renowned bartender and author from Boston, as we discuss the realities of achieving a work-life balance while managing bars & restaurants. Yarm shares his experiences and insights on how to deal with burnout in the industry. Whether you're a bartender or simply curious about the hospitality world, this episode offers valuable perspectives on balancing work and life." I mentioned some of this in last year's edition of this wrap up. There's also a bonus episode on Patreon that covers cocktail blogging and some other topics. And in April, I appeared on an episode of My Tiny Bottles where I talked about the history of the (Old) Mr. Boston distillery and recipe books, my personal history in cocktails and spirits, and finally tasting some vintage schnapps bottles from said distillery. The valuable lesson is don't collect vintage spirits in plastic bottles that allow for evaporation (of liquids and aromatics) not observed nearly as much in glass ones.

4. The beer world.
In April, I had the chance once again to volunteer for the NERAX cask beer festival for the first time since 2019. My April 2020 volunteer date along with a trip to Kentucky for the Angel's Envy national Whiskey Guardian gathering and to Pittsburgh for the USBG regional meeting were a trio of canceled plans, so it was good to spend time drinking and serving cask beer amongst fellow beer nerds. Over the course of the year, my beer app tells me that we checked into 97 breweries and 1 cidery taproom. Some noteable visits include a goodbye session at Bone Up who lost their lease, two in Oaxaca: La Santisima Flor de Lupulo and Oaxaca Brewing Co., and great first time visits to spots like Czar's Brewing, the Brewery at Four Star Farms, Brockton Beer Co. (pictured below), Kettlehead, Vulgar, and Independent Fermentations. One of my bar guests asked if I request Sundays off to go to church, and I replied that no, my Sunday vibe is brewery tap rooms and Cribbage. Yes, this year, I learned how to play Cribbage, bought a board, and taught my wife. 5. Was quoted a bit.
The year started with an article on the Appetizer à l’Italienne in Imbibe Magazine – a Fernet-laden recipe that found a home at Drink in Boston over a century after being published in William Schmidt's The Flowing Bowl in 1892 and not served at many other places. Al Sotack included my Fleming Fizz of a Penicillin crossed with a French 75 in his Epicurious article about Scotch cocktails (the drink was published on that site in December 2020). UPROXX used me as a bartender voice in their articles on Spring bock beers, Spring Lagers, double dry-hopped IPAs, East coast IPAs, "light" beers, desert island pilsners, underrated breweries, desert island IPAs, sour beers, and Oktoberfest beers. My opinion was utilized for best muddler for WineEnthusiast, and I was quoted in part 1 & part 2 on VinePair's "Two Hundred Years Trending: A Definitive History of the 'Drinks of Summer'".

6. Read a little but not as much as I would have liked.
For much of 2023, my vision was impaired by a blocked oil duct that caused an eyelid bump and thus an astigmatism that made reading a chore. Eventually, I was able to get an appointment to get it taken care of, and it took me a bit to get back into the reading rhythm. Before it became too tough to read, I made my way through Robert Simonson's Modern Classic Cocktails, Peter Friendlier's "21": Memoirs of a Saloon Keeper, and Philip Greene's A Drinkable Feast: A Cocktail Companion to 1920s Paris. Afterwards, I read Will Guidara's Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect, Kevin Quigley's New England Tiki, and Stephanie Schorow's Inside the Combat Zone. Hopefully 2024 has me hitting the two books per month mark I was reading at one point. 7. Involved in the USBG.
This was my 11th full year of being a member of the USBG (joined in October 2012) and my 5th year as the chapter secretary. I organized two tasting events with distillers, namely Kuleana Rum and Westward Whiskey. Moreover, I organized two distillery tours which gave folks a great behind the scenes view of Privateer and Chattermark distilleries. The bartenders guild also afforded me to sit in on classes on Woodford Reserve, Old Forester, Highland & Speyside Scotches, and pot still Irish whiskey with Teeling. Moreover, the guild organized our local Campari Day of Service at Community Servings where we spent the day helping prep and assembling meals to go to folks in need due to medical conditions in our community (see photo above).

8. Created some drinks.
2023 yielded 31 drinks posted onto the blog that I created (two were created during my time at Loyal Nine but I never posted them during my two and half years there between 2015-2017). Some were influenced by my delving into the Milk & Honey family of recipes via the Bartender's Choice app such as the Kilted Flower, Anchor-Faced, and Lupe Velez. Others, I can track back to Cure and Rogue/Beta Cocktails such as the Devil's Staircase and A Kidnapped Drink. There were plenty of other influences like the old Green Street with The Five Elements, Stan Jones and a mezcal bartender competition with the Bar Boss, and even the Savoy Cocktail Book with the As I Lay Dying. Hopefully, I find more inspiration in 2024 to savor and learn from to continue my understanding of cocktails. 9. Expanded my social media outlets.
Besides the blog and my cocktail Instagram, I also use Twitter under @cocktailvirgin. With Twitter's uncertain future, I have also expanded to Mastodon with fredericyarm@better.boston, BlueSky with @fredericyarm.bsky.social, and Threads with @fredericyarm. I wish that I could be centralized into one platform like in the golden years of Twitter, but it has not become apparent what platform will become the most useful. Even with all the issues with Twitter, I have been on there long enough and have amassed a great number of connections (some of whom are still using it) to keep cross-posting my thoughts and links despite the site's issues.

10. I need to make 2024 more exciting and vibrant so I do not have a problem coming up with a tenth year end list item.
While I did travel in January as part of my post-working at Drink break, I pretty much stayed put for the rest of the year save for day trips. The job search took up the early part of 2024 where I interviewed and staged at a number of places, joined one for a few days before realizing that it was a horrible fit, and eventually landed at Josephine under a mile from my home. When Portland Cocktail Week came around, I turned down my acceptance for it was not a good time for our bar program given some turnover that was happening. There were some cool events that I did go to in town like attending the Hendrick's Floradora launch party at the Herb Lyceum, learning about Drambuie and coffee at the Wig Shop, judging a Daiquiri competition at Shore Leave during Boston Rum Week, hearing Dale DeGroff talk at Equal Measures about his new amaro and apertivo followed by drinks at the new Eastern Standard, and celebrating at Trina's Starlite Lounge's Prohibition Repeal Night event hosted by Josh Childs. There were also some sad ones like saying goodbye to The Boston Shaker store. Finally, there were also some proud moments like the time that a co-worker called out on a Saturday night leaving me to do the busy shift solo, so we brought a server behind the bar to help out, and over the course of a few weeks I trained her into a full time bartender with a bright future ahead of her. I am definitely curious to see what 2024 has in store for me. Cheers y'all!