Upcoming Events

Here are the upcoming events and appearance current on my calendar. If you're in any of these places while I'm there, come on out—I'd love to see you.


August 21-24, 2016: BevCon, Charleston SC
The inaugural BevCon Charleston is bringing a crowd of leading beverage industry professionals to Charleston for a four-day conference. I'm fortunate to be involved in several events:

Sunday, August 21, 11:00 am: Rum Cruise  
Long before anyone ever heard of bourbon, the people of Charleston were drinking rum. Join beverage historians Wayne Curtis and Robert Moss for a unique event highlighting Charleston’s original spirit. Gather dockside and board The Schooner Pride for a 2-hour excursion. (We were going to do a three-hour tour, but we all know how those end.) Once at sea, we’ll discuss the history of Charleston’s harbor and its tight interconnectedness with Europe, Africa and the Caribbean—a story in which rum played a starring role. We’ll sample various rums side-by-side; sip cocktails that represent rum’s rich, varied history, and snack on small bites designed by Paul Yellin of Cane Rhum Bar to enhance your rum enjoyment. What better way to gain new appreciation of this essential and historic American spirit?

Monday, August 22, 11:30 am: Getting Ink
A few bars, restaurants, and distilleries seem to get all the press — accolades and glowing accounts in every newspaper and  glossy magazine. How does this happen? This panel will harvest the wily minds of journalists who write about food and beverages for critical information about what they're looking for, what gets their attention and, perhaps more importantly, what things they loathe that causes doors to slam closed? (with Wayne Curtis, Kat Kinsman, and Hanna Raskin)

Tuesday, August 23, 11:45 am: So, You Want to Write a Book About Booze?: Navigating the Publishing Process, from Concept to Publication and Beyond
This session will cover every step along the path to publishing a booze-themed book, from writing a proposal to promoting the finished product. Panelists will address pressing questions such as "do I need an agent?" and "do I need a publisher?" (with Brad Thomas Parsons, Paul Clark, Matt & Ted Lee, and Kathleen Purvis)



Saturday, September 3, 2016: AJC Decatur Book Festival, Decatur, GA
At 4:15 PM on Saturday, Fred Minnick and I will be featured in a panel discussion entitled "Uniquely Southern Cocktails" at the AJC Decatur Book Festival.



Saturday, September 10, 2016: Bookmarks 2016 Festival of Books and Authors, Winston-Salem, NC

At noon on Saturday, I'll be on the "Southern Flavors" with fellow Southern food and drink writers Bridgette Lacy and Debbie Moose, with a book signing to follow.



September 22-25, 2016: Euphoria, Greenville, SC 
I'll be heading up to Greenville the last weekend in September for the Euphoria festival. On Friday, September 23, at 4:00 pm I'll be talking Southern cocktails at the Sip VIP Experience, then on Saturday shifting to barbecue for the Smokin' on the Street Classroom.
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Past Events

June 18th: Whiskey Tasting & Book Signing at Bourbon (Columbia, SC)



If you're going to be in Columbia this weekend, stop by Bourbon on Main Street where we'll be doing a whiskey tasting and book signing for Southern Spirits. It starts at 4:00 pm, and a $45 ticket gets you the bourbon and cocktail tasting, snacks, and a signed copy of the book. Details and tickets here.

April 17: Charleston Launch Party for Southern Spirits (Charleston SC)

On Sunday, April 17, come out to Edmund's Oast for the official Charleston launch party for my latest book Southern Spirits: Four Hundred Years of Drinking in the American South, With Recipes. Chef Reid Henninger of Edmund’s Oast will be providing complimentary snacks for guests and there will be drink specials as well. (And if you've never tried one of Jayce McConnell's splendid cocktails you need to come quick and taste what you've been missing.) I'll be there selling and signing books, of course. The event runs from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm and is free and open to the public.


April 19: Cajun/Creole and Carolina Lowcountry Food, Historic Foodways Society of the Delaware Valley (Philadelphia PA)

You can learn a lot about the history of Southern food by studying a bowl of gumbo.  In fact, you can learn a lot about three separate but related American foodways: Cajun food, Creole food, and the food of the  Carolina Lowcountry.  I'll be giving a talk for the Historic Foodways Society of the Delaware Valley at the The Pavilion at the University of  Pennsylvania Library, digging into these three distinct styles and using a dish of gumbo to unravel the threads, showing  the evolution of many rich culinary traditions.  To top it off, we will then dine on Gumbo, Jambalaya, Collard Greens and Corn Maque Choux prepared by 12th Street Catering.


May 15: "Southern Secrets" Seminar, Rochester Cocktail Revival (Rochester., NY)

I'm heading up to Rochester, NY for the Rochester Cocktail Revival, where I'll be presenting a seminar on two classic Southern cocktails: the Sazerac and the Mint Julep. It's at noon on Sunday, May 15.

November 6 - 7: Southern Food and Beverage Museum (New Orleans, LA)

I'm particularly excited about this one: in November, I'm helping rocket scientist and pitmaster Howard Conyers bring South Carolina-style burn-barrel barbecue to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans. Howard, who grew up cooking whole hog with his family in Manning, SC, went on to earn a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Material Science at Duke and now tests rocket engines at Stennis Space Center. There's a cocktail party Friday night along with a bunch of food from noted New Orleans chefs, and we'll be staying up all night to assist Howard cooking hogs. The following day we'll each give a talk—Howard on the relationship between barbecue and STEM (Science Technology and Math) education, me on the history and legacy of the SC whole hog tradition—then be part of a panel discussion on the cultural relevancy of barbecue. Should be a fantastic weekend.

Dr. Howard Conyers: Pitmaster & Rocket Scientists
Howard's pit, hand-welded by his father

October 24: Daniel Island Home Tours (Daniel Island, SC)

On Saturday, October 24, I'll be spending the afternoon on Daniel Island signing books as part of the Friends of the Daniel Island Library Harvest Tour of Homes. A chance to tour beautiful homes and support the library while you're at it.

October 8-10: TerraVita Food & Drink Festival (Chapel Hill, NC)

What a great event! The two panels went off really well, and I had a great time meeting a very talented lineup of distillers, bartenders, and writers.

The weekend after Hogs for the Cause, I'm heading up to Chapel Hill to moderate Sustainable Classroom panels at the TerraVita Food & Drink Festival in Chapel Hill: 
  • North Carolina in Five Drinks: Drinking through the culinary story of North Carolina in five liquid refreshments: beer, wine, spirits, tea, and sodas. 
  • Spirited: The Souls and Stories Behind Cocktails in the South: Sipping our way through cocktails that have played key roles in the narrative of North Carolina over the last 100 years
I'm going to be joined by some really great panelists, including Sean Lilly Wilson of Fullsteam, cookbook author Sheri Castle, Scott Maitland of TOPO Distillery, Tom Barbitta from Cheerwine, Elizabeth Cooper from Southern Season, Chris Jude of Fair Game Beverages, and Kevin Barrett of Foundation. Should be a lot of fun.

October 3: Hogs for the Cause Charleston (Mt. Pleasant, SC)

UPDATE: Hogs for the Cause, unfortunately, was canceled due to the monumental rainstorms and flooding that hit Charleston the weekend of Oct 3rd. We'll get 'em next year, though!

The first weekend in October, I'll be joining a group of local Charleston food folks on the Smoked Mullets team at Hogs for the Cause Charleston, and we'll be cooking three whole hogs South Carolina burn-barrel style. It's for a really good cause—helping families who have children being treated for pediatric brain cancer—and you can help the cause, too, by donating here.

We'll be busting out the  old school pit at  Patriot's Point
for Hogs for the Cause Charleston (October 3rd)



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