June 2009 Archives

To a lot of people, summertime is the slow time in New Orleans, but at The Hotel Monteleone we just keep rolling along. The perfect example is this very week ahead of us.

Beginning Sunday June 28, we welcome the annual convention of The Society for Human Resource Management and in between meetings the folks of SHRM will be taking a spin around The Carousel Bar, lounging by the rooftop pool and relaxing in the luscious ease of Spa Aria.

Folks who want to keep up on Twitter, or surf the internet can do so anywhere in the hotel with our newly installed, up to date Free WiFi system. Like some folks on Twitter have said, The Carousel Bar can now be your office away from the office. What could be better?

Folks attending SHRM can also keep up on updates for the convention and activities at Hotel Monteleone by checking the hashtag #SHRM on Twitter.

But that's not all... The summer's just getting started! By the end of the week we will be welcoming the 15th Anniversary celebration of The Essence Festival. In between great concerts, informative seminars and exciting events, you'll find The Carousel Bar jumping with activity and The Hotel Monteleone positively ALIVE with activity. It's a great event - the kind that can only happen in New Orleans - and The Hotel Monteleone is your front row seat for all the great French Quarter celebration that goes along with this amazing international event.

You can follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #ESSENCE to keep abreast of all the information on the Festival and related activities at the Hotel Monteleone.

Of course, as soon as The Essence Festival is over we head full speed into the 7th Annual Tales of The Cocktail with more food, fun, education, fraternization and... oh yeah, cocktails, than you can shake a swizzle stick at.

We'll be live blogging (and of course Tweeting) the whole event so keep tabs on us with the hashtag #totc09

Of course in the midst of all this flurry of summertime activity you might think there's no room just to come in, relax, take a spin on The Carousel and relax by the pool. But there is! And right now with special room rates beginning at $99/night and Suites available starting at $189/night you couldn't pick a better (and more affordable) time to drop what your doing and take in everything that is The Big Easy.

It's all about Sizzling Summertime Savings and all the fun that is The Hotel Monteleone.

What are you waiting for... Christmas?

On July 10th and 11th, we're bringing a little bit of France right into the Hotel Monteleone when The Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC) will be sponsoring a Tasting Room and Seminar at Tales of the Cocktail (July 8-12).

Quite naturally, Walter Bergeron, the head bartender at the Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans, used Cognac when he created the emblematic Vieux Carré cocktail, named in honor of the Quarter, in 1938.

Today, Cognac is experiencing a resurgence as an important component in the bartender's arsenal, and these two events at The Hotel Monteleone are going to prove it.

The Cognac Tasting Room will run on July 10th from 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM. Attendees will have the opportunity to taste a broad selection of Cognacs from several producers. Upon entering the room, they will be greeted with a Summit cocktail made by Jim Meehan of PDT in NYC. The Summit was created by a group of top international bartenders during the 2008 International Cognac Summit in Cognac www.cognacsummit.com.

Acclaimed spirit writer Jack Robertiello will also be on hand to answer questions, and we expect attendance from other renowned Cognac aficionados.

Then, on July 11th, the seminar, in our Riverview Room, "Cognac, From Vines to Shaker," will run from 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM. Jack Robertiello, Jim Meehan and Jean-Louis Carbonnier of Cognac USA will lead the educational seminar, focusing on tips for creative ways that bartenders can use Cognac. Freshly distilled eau-de-vie, as well as several styles of Cognac will be tasted, along with two cocktails, the Summit and the Vieux Carré, prepared by Jim. Attendees will also receive a copy of the new educational DVD developed by the BNIC.



Cognac's connection to New Orleans will continue on July 23rd in Cognac, France, when the BNIC will host a special conference titled "Cognac and New Orleans, The History of Cocktails" during the Blues Passions festival. 

Ann and Paul G. Tuennerman of Tales of The Cocktail will be in attendance as keynote speakers invited by the BNIC, along with Fernando Castellon.



Last week in Las Vegas long time Louis Prima sax man Sam Butera died. Keith Sperra wrote about it on NOLA.Com but for us at The Hotel Monteleone it brought back memories of some of the glory days at the top of the hotel when Louis Prima and his band reigned supreme as the superstars of The Starlight Room.

Here's a segment from our hotel audio tour that reflects back on those days when the place to see and be seen in The French Quarter was all the way at the top of The Hotel Monteleone. These days, what was The Starlight Room is now the Queen Anne Ballroom at the top of the hotel next to rooftop pool and fitness center, and just down the hall from the Ernest Hemingway suite.

But in the days of Louis Prima and Sam Butera, it was the place where folks in New Orleans came to truly Jump, Jive, and Wail.