An online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulam.

This October marks the five year anniversary of Scofflaw’s Den. It’s been a hell of a ride, one that we’re certainly hoping to continue for many years to come.

To commemorate this milestone, we are hosting a party on October 7, 2012 at The Passenger in Washington, D.C. The party starts at 4:00pm and lasts until 8:00pm. But knowing us, we’ll be sticking around for quit a while after that.

There will be a friendly cocktail competition between SeanMike and I. We’ll each create a cocktail that will be for sale at the bar. Everyone who shows up will get a ballot and can vote for their favorite drink. To entice you to try each drink, and to prove we’re not completely self-centered guys, we’re mixing for charity! The proceeds from The Passenger during our party will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Museum of the American Cocktail. We will also have a donation bucket for additional acts of kindness.

Additionally, we’ll be talking about a few upcoming projects and general direction of Scofflaw’s Den that is a bit of a departure, though certainly complimentary, to what you’re used to seeing.

At the party you’ll be able to order some great cocktails created by the Passenger folks using some of our favorite brands and sponsors of our party, Chairman’s Reserve Rum, Catoctin Creek Distillery, Edinburgh Gin, Green Chartreuse and Diep 9 Genever. We’re still working on a few other sponsors and hope we can announce them soon. BTW, if you rep a brand and are interested in being part of our celebration, shoot SeanMike an email.

There you have it! I hope everyone reading this will be able to make it to The Passenger on Sunday, October 7th between 4pm and 8 pm to celebrate our 5 year anniversary and support two fantastic organizations!

Cheers!

This has been a week of site announcements! We’ve added a contributing authors page to the Den for friends who would like to share their thoughts on cocktails, mixology, the DC restaurant/bar scene, cigars, etc.

I’d like to introduce everyone to our first contributing author Ashley Schmidt. Ashley, meet everyone. Everyone, meet Ashley.

Ashley is a bartender at Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington, DC and will be contributing articles on Scofflaws Den from time to time. She’ll be writing about her experiences behind a small intimate cocktail bar and a faster paced high-volume cocktail bar. She’s also free to share her thoughts on cocktails, spirits and mixology in general. Here is her bio:

Ashley is a craft cocktail bartender at Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington DC.  How did this all begin?  She started as a shot girl on the weekends at Martini Bar in Florida and slowly worked herself up the ranks as customers took to her charm and charisma for life. Her love for craft cocktails began in Washington DC at a small craft cocktail den on Mount Pleasant Street called Last Exit.  It was here she learned the art of mixing cocktails and gained understanding of the meticulousness of each spirit’s essence. This neighborhood bar gave her the time to practice and create.  Almost a year later she would approach Jack Rose Dining Saloon to begin a new chapter in her bartending:: mixing craft cocktails and catering to high volume patrons.

Her love for bartending can be related to her love for the world of science.  In her mind, creating cocktails is like understanding the art of science; it needs to be appreciated and understood done to the smallest nitty gritty details.  Having an academic background, with a masters from Tulane in public health, she currently works another job in the pursuit of a global health career as well.  Ashley has a love for helping people and making life more beautiful along the way.  Bottoms up and cheers to discovering a whole new world.

Last Friday, August 10th, I celebrated my birthday. Today, I joined AARP. Now before I get all sorts of “old timer” jokes (looking your way SeanMike) I’d like to state for the record I haven’t reached the century mark. Yet.

No, I’m proud to let everyone know that as of this week, I am the official cocktail writer for the AARP Blog. Each week I will be contributing an article on cocktails, their history, recipes and the general state of cocktail culture in the US.

So what does this mean for Scofflaw’s Den? Nothing but good things! First, the additional publicity and readership should be great. More importantly, I’ll still be writing here and covering home bartending, original recipes, the DC cocktail and restuarant world, our classes and other special events and my hijinks in the booze world. If anything, you’ll be seeing more articles around here from me because I’ll be spending more time focused on the spiritous plane. Occassionally I’ll cross post between the sites, but I plan to keep that at a minimum.

So if you’re interested in what’s going on over at the AARP Blog, check in each week!

Cheers!

Did you miss us? Hello? This thing on?

It’s been over four years and we decided things needed a little bit of a sprucing up. We had some great help getting the new design up and running and want to give a big thanks to Jason “Reggie” King at Oreginaldeisgn for dealing with our (read: my) nagging about things. This guy is great and if you have some web work to do, I highly recommend dropping him a line.

Lots of things coming up including Tales of the Cocktail so you’ll see, and read, much more from us.

So look around, kick the tires and let us know in the comments what you think of the new and improved Scofflaw’s Den.

Cheers!