Cocktails in the Country

Many thanks to the Evil Doctor (again) for posting in my absence. And the rest of you can eat a bag of dicks. You're on the contributors list because you're supposed to contribute. Assholes.
Now to the weekend. Friggin' wicked awesome.
For those of you that are new, or only visit occasionally, or have shitty memories, Lady Head and I went to Gary Regan's Cockails in the Country this weekend.
First off, Gary is so the fucking man. For those of you that don't know, he's one of the preeminent cocktailians of our time. To me, he's one of less than a 1/2 dozen or so authorities on the making and history or drinks. I highly recommend The Joy of Mixology to all and The Book of Bourbon to any bourbon enthusiasts out there. In addition, he's pretty awesome in general. Smart, laid back, funny, and a great storyteller.
Those of you that are familiar with Gary may not recognize him because of the lack of his signature beard. He had tongue cancer and chemo made it so he can't grow it anymore. (they replaced 1/2 his tongue with part of his arm - you couldn't tell by his speech though so good job surgeons!).
OK, we got in on Friday afternoon. Gary picked us up, took us on a quick tour of the town (Cornwall-on-Hudson). Then we checked into our room at Painter's Inn. Lady Head and I had dinner and drinks and went to bed early. The next morning we had breakfast and read until 11:30 when the limo got in from Manhattan with the rest of the class. Then we had lunch. Then we walked into the bar while "Have a Drink on Me" by Lonnie Donegan was playing. This would become our anthem since it always began a class. While this song was playing, Gary was making drinks. He gave one to each of us and class began. The first session was the ardent basics. A lot of what was expected from a bartender, history of the craft, how to handle different situations, basic bartending (how to stir, skake, muddle, roll, flame, garnish, etc., etc., etc.), tasting different ingredients, and the like. This session we tasted a lot of bitters, vermouths, whiskeys, etc. Then we had a break for 2 hours and came back down for a 4 course dinner with paired cocktails. Then Gary made us all nightcaps. Normally we would have kept drinking but these were classic cocktails that fuck you up right quick. We started with a martini, circa 1900. Interesting. It was 1:1 gin (Tanqeray 10 in this case), dry vermouth, and orange bitters with a lemon twist. I didn't think I'd like it since I drink my martinis medium dry but it was excellent. Even Lady Head liked it and she'd not a big gin fan. We also had sidecars and a cosmo that definitely didn't taste like your typical TGIFriday's affair. Two things I took away from this trip is to know your ingredients and always use the best. For example, you don't use sour mix or the ilk in anything, you use fresh lime juice and simple syrup. You don't use shitty triple sec, you use Cointreau. Of course in some shitty drinks it doesn't matter but in a carefully crafted cocktail it makes a world's of difference. Drinks I never like were suddenly good.
So the next morning we had breakfast at 8 and the second session started at 9am. We walked into the bar with our song playing and Gary making us all drinks (!). More tasting of liquors (rums, tequilas, vodkas, etc.) and learning more drinks. Then after 3 or 4 hours of this we broke for lunch. Then our last session was Gary giving us ingredients that we had to taste and figure out how to make a tasty drink from them. We each made 2-3 drinks. Then he cut us loose behind the bar for an hour where we could make and drink whatever we want. Awesome.
Lady Head has discovered an affinity for margaritas, mojitos, and mint juleps. She never liked them before but now she knows how to make them a certain way and loves them.
We also got kick-ass swag. Our goodie bags contained a bartending kit (shakers, barspoons, strainers, a muddler, etc.), a few shirts and hats, and a shitload of booze (Lady Head and I each got 9 airplane bottles, 3 or 4 half bottles, and 2 full bottles).
We stayed and extra night and now we're back armed for fucking you up classically.
All in all, everything except our first and last meals was covered. That means the other meals, the booze, the room on Saturday, and transport to and from Manhattan. For $150/person. (It's sponsored by the liquor companies.)
You'd be stupid not to do this. It was awesome.

Puppy comes today.

Edit: Found another story of the course here.