13 days ago, I was frantically doing laundry and packing.? Suddenly I hit a point where all I could do was wait for an hour or so; I’d just gotten a five pack of bitters from Bitter End Bitters in Santa Fe, New Mexico, so I threw together a drink using a pineapple that I didn’t want to have to throw out before my trip.

So we’ll start with that:

The Express
2 oz Cruzan blackstrap
1/2 oz Flor de Ca?a 4 yr old
1/2 oz Wray & Nephew
3/4 oz orgeat
1/2 oz? lemon juice
1 oz lime juice
1 dash Bitter End Bitters Thai Bitters

Shake with ice, pour unstrained into a cored out pineapple.? Garnish with a bit of mint if you’d like.

From there it was time for my trip.? I was off to Portland, Oregon, for Drink.Write 2010, our CSOWG conference, coinciding with Portland Cocktail Week and the Great American Distillers Fest.? I’d never been to Portland before and I was very eager to experience it.

I’m going to put it in short: it was awesome.? Hanging out with Darcy O’Neil and Ryan Magarian at the Driftwood Lounge, which turned into a visit to the House Spirits distillery; seeing Jeffrey Morgenthaler in his native Clyde Common slinging drinks; hanging out with folks like John The Bastard, Stevi Deter, Rick Stutz, Matt Robold, and Gabriel Szaszko; meeting tons of new folks (too many people to list here), and in general, I had some of the best drinks, food, and fun I’ve had in a long, long time.

Who are those sexy people? HINT: ONE IS ME

(Picture stolen from the Mixoloseum Facebook page.)

All kinds of folks gave lectures – Erick Castro, the aforementioned Rumdood, Morgenthaler, Darcy, the ever-fabulous Camper English, Craig Hermann, and, of course, Blair “Trader Tiki” Reynolds.? I could go on and on and on about the in-jokes, the fun, how to make ingredients, but hey.? I did name one drink after Craig, and I have an idea for another one; once I dig them both up, I’ll post them on here.? Just to warn, the first one is named “The Grapefruit Fleshlight” (please don’t Google “fleshlight” from work) and the other one is similarly mature.

Unfortunately, I had to leave on Saturday to fly to Orlando, Florida, for work, where the best I can say (drinks wise) is that I explored almost the entire Scotch selection at the Doubletree Resort – though I did have dinner one night at a place called Hannibal’s, and the wine there was very tasty.? I was at the IACP show, then by Wednesday I could head back to my home just outside of Washington DC in Arlington, VA.

Saturday, of course, there was a ton of Halloween parties out and about.? I went to my co-blogger’s house and he had a a whole menu worked up with the Halloween theme.? Hopefully he’ll be posting those on here soon.? Sunday I spent a good bit of time wandering Clarendon with a friend before watching my beloved Steelers lose.

So now I’m back home, watching Monday Night Football.? I’ve got a brain full of ideas that I need to get articulated and out onto the blog.? Repeal Day is coming up on December 4th, and of course, your Scofflaws will be there along with an all-star cast such as Derek Brown, Gina Chersevani, Todd Thrasher, David Wondrich, Beachbum Berry, Jeffrey Morgenthaler (man, that guy gets around!), Dale DeGroff, and possibly, quite possibly, some other cocktail bloggers.

Maybe.

Me, right now, I’m finally feeling like I’m home for a while – and I’ve got entire WEEKS before I have to travel again.? I’m sipping a Tempranillo that I used to wash down my porterhouse and baked potato, thinking about having a cigar – I’m running low again finally, and realized I won’t be able to go to the Rocky Patel event tomorrow at Virginia Pipe & Tobacco in Seven Corners – and thinking about working with some of these new bitters to come up with some more drinks.

What have y’all been up to?? Have any good cocktails lately?