Jason Hervey Talks Producing "Outlaw Country" on Huffpost LIve

Put this in either the "shameless promotion" file (thanks for the on air props Jason) or the "proud brother" file.  Either way, this is a great interview.

Outlaw Country Promo

Congratulations to our client on its upcoming series on WGN, Outlaw Country



@bhetv
@outlawwgna

Thirsty Lawyer Named to Variety's 2014 Legal Impact Report

The following is from my firm's press release:

Los Angeles, California, April 21, 2014 - Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin Law Corporation congratulates its partner, Scott Hervey on being recognized by Variety in its 2014 Legal Impact Report.

This report, appearing in the April 15 issue of Variety, highlights the nation’s top entertainment industry lawyers whose work has helped shape the film, television, music and digital media industries.

“Scott keeps one foot in Hollywood and the other in Silicon Beach” said Weintraub’s managing partner, Michael Kvarme. “His unique mix of traditional television and technology and digital media clientele earned him this prestigious spot.”

Scott works with tech start-ups, gaming companies, TV production companies, multi-channel online networks, YouTube channels and technology investors. Scott Hervey received his J.D. with distinction, from the University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Scott is a professor of entertainment law at King Hall, U.C. Davis, serves on the Hollywood Radio and Television Society’s Board of Directors and as the chair of the Digital Media section of the Los Angeles Venture Association.

Congratulations to a Thirsty Lawyer Client

Congratulations to Thirsty Lawyer client, MX Digital on its gaming deal with Blues Brothers brand.  Great story in today's Hollywood Reporter.

Cocktail Deconstruction: The Brixton from PettyCash Taqueria

Have you wondered how to make at home that great cocktail they feature at your favorite watering hole.  Well you can -  or you can at least try.  In a new feature called Cocktail Deconstruction, Thirsty Lawyer is going to deconstruct that great cocktail made by your favorite mixologist and come up with a recipe you can follow at home.  Think how impressed your dinner guests will be.

Over the weekend Thirsty Lawyer went to PettyCash Taqueria (http://pettycashtaqueria.com/).  Aside from some seriously great food (charred octopus tacos - my life will never be the same!), PettyCash has a great cocktail program.  While most of their drinks are either tequila or mezcal focused, the stand out cocktail of the evening was the Brixton.  The cocktail menu describes the Brixton as follows:  gin, pablano sorbet, habanero, fresh lime, flaming green Chartreuse.  This is what it looked like when it showed up at our table.

File this one under "Absolutely Must Try At Home"!  Now granted, the pablano sorbet requires some advance preparation  (the Los Angeles Times, California Cookbook has a great recipe at http://recipes.latimes.com/recipe-poblano-sorbet/) but once that part is done, you are ready to go.

The Brixton.

Gin, preferably Plymouth -1.5 oz

Pablano Sorbet -1 oz

Fresh lime juice -1oz

Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub - dash

Shake and serve on the rocks

Green Chartreuse - .5 oz set aflame in your favorite small, halved and hallowed out citrus fruit.

Jason Hervey (aka Brother Thirsty Lawyer) On Katie Couric

Jason Hervey (@jasonhervey) finally comes clean with the truth that I, Thirsty Lawyer, was the inspiration for his character, Wayne, on the Emmy award winning show The Wonder Years.  All jokes aside, Thirsty Lawyer loves his little brother very much and is very, very proud of his success and accomplishments.

Book Club and The Limiting Factor

Me and a friend - who also happens to be a fellow cocktail enthusiast - host a a semi regular (meaning, whenever the mood strikes us) pop-up cocktail hour.  We call it book club.  We work out a theme based on our guests (our first Book Club guests were all from the video game industry so our theme was sci-fi), choose a book (The Player of Games by Iain Banks) and then design a cocktail that ties it all together.  In this instance we designed a particularly delicious cocktail called The Limiting Factor (which also happens to be the name of a spacecraft in the book).  Its more of a cold weather cocktail - but it was particularly dreary in LA last weekend.

2 oz Balvenie 12 year sherry cask
.25 oz honey water
fresh squeezed half lemon
dash orange bitters
dash toasted pecan bitters
egg white
Shake vigorously and serve up.

Brother Thirsty Lawyer On Fox and Friends

Thirsty Lawyer's brother was on Fox and Friends this morning to talk about his Discovery network show, The Devils Ride, and his former life in front of the camera as Wayne Arnold on The Wonder Years.  Thanks for mentioning that I was your source material for all of the evil things your character Wayne did to Kevin (Fred Savage)

Mon Sherry - A Twist On The Classic Negroni

Feeling adventurous this past Friday, I decided to take some liberties with one of my favorite cocktails, the Negroni.  I decided to substitute Aperol for the Campari, and swap out my go to sweet vermouth, Carpano Antica, for Lustau East India Solera Sherry.   This is the first time I substituted sherry for sweet  vermouth it turned out to be a bold but delicious move.

East India is a sweeter sherry; not dry like most.  It has a complex, mature nose of burnt sugar, spices, raisins, chocolate, walnuts and orange peel. Its a sweeter sherry.  The resulting cocktail lacked the bitter profile usually present in the traditional version of a Negroni.  This cocktail had more of a mellow profile; rich and full bodied.  It will be interesting to see what East India brings to other traditional cocktail  recipes.  

El Manhattan Featuring Tapatio Anejo

When the good people at Charbay sent me some of their R5 Whiskey to sample, they also sent me some testers of Tequila Tapatio, Anejo, Blanco and Reposado. &nbsp. Tequila Tapatio is 100% blue agave, and distilled by Master Distiller, Carlos Camarena for La Altena. The Anejo is aged for 18 months in used Jim Bean American Oak Barrels.

Tequila Tapatio is a well known and beloved tequila brand and has been available only in Mexico. "It's the 75 year old icon of Tequila," says Eric Johnson , co-owner/ respected bartender of San Francisco's Bar Agricole. A frequent Tequila seeker, he's been waiting for years to pour it here in the U.S. His wait is now over; Charbay recently began importing this brand into the United States.

Carlos Camarena 's La Altena Family Distillery distills its Tequila only from estate grown blue agave plants. According to Charbay's press release, when Charbay's father and son team decided to distill their own Charbay Tequila, the Camarenas invited the distillers to distill with them. The two families shared their distilling methods. The friendship expanded into Charbay becoming the exclusive USA Importer of the Tequila Tapatio brand.

On Friday night I thought I would put the Tequila Tapatio, Anejo to the test with the El Manhattan recipe from the PDT Cocktail Book. The Anejo is a very smooth tequila, with cocoa, wood, cinnamon and clove on the palate. It made for one great cocktail.

El Manhattan

2 oz Tequila Tapatio Anejo
1oz Punt e Mes
Dash Orange Bitters

Shake, serve up in a coupe; garnish with a burnt orange peel.

Diez de Mayo - Perfect Day For a Margarita

Cinco de Mayo has come and gone, but I am having a craving for the margarita cocktail artisan Rhino made for me last week at the Phoenix in Beverly Hills.  This recipe happens to be one of my all time favorites.

2oz. Reposado tequila
.5 oz fresh lime juice
.5 oz grapefruit juice
two jalapeno slices
three cucumber slices
fresh micro cilantro

Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake.  Double strain over ice.

Friday Night R5 Manhattan

The good people at Charbey were kind enough to send me a sample of their R5 aged whiskey, and Friday night was as good a time as any to give it a whirl.  What's R5 Whiskey you ask.  As you all know, whiskey is a distilled alcohol made from fermented grain mash, such as malted barley, rye, wheat, corn, etc.  R5 Whiskey is distilled from Racer 5 beer right out of the bottle.  I am a big fan of this hoppy IPA, and in my opinion using this as the base for a whiskey is pure genius.

I decided to take the little tester of R5 and give it a spin in a Manhattan.  The malty and hoppy nature of Racer 5 carried through, giving the whiskey a unique and enjoyable flavor profile.  The F5 Whiskey will be one I add to my collection.

The R5 Manhattan 
2 oz R5 Whiskey
1 oz Antica sweet vermouth
Dash of Angostura bitters
Shaken over ice and served up; skip the cherry

Weintraub Tobin and LAVA Digital Media Group present panel discussion on Digital Media and Food

Weintraub Tobin and LAVA Digital Media Group present panel discussion on Digital Media and Food

Join Us April 23!

Weintraub Tobin and the LAVA Digital Media Group will host a panel discussion: "How Has Digital Media Changed the Way We Interact with Food" on Tuesday, April 23.

Whether it's finding a place to eat, sharing recommendations on your favorite dishes or ordering food online, investors have been hungry (sorry for the terrible pun) to invest in web and mobile-based food applications and platforms - aka food tech.

Over the last year, almost $350 million has been invested in Food Tech and deal activity to the burgeoning sector grew over 37% vs the prior year.

Weintraub Tobin and LAVA Digital Media Group present panel discussion on Digital Media and Food

Panelists include:

• Bruce Seidel, Digital Media Strategist, and former CEO, Electus' YouTube Food Channel.
• Corianda Dimes, New Media Strategist, Bullfrog and Baum
• Nik Bauman, cofounder of Foodzie.com and Tonx, Inc. Nik has focused his entire professional career on e-commerce and food
• Moderated by Scott Hervey, Shareholder, Weintraub Tobin

"How Has Digital Media Changed the Way We Interact with Food" takes place Tuesday, April 23 at ROC, 604 Arizona Street in Santa Monica. Enjoy a social hour from 6:30-7 p.m. followed by the panel discussion and a Q and A session. Register here.

Follow the event on Twitter: @weintraub_law

#wtdmg

Charbay's Cure For The June Gloom

Last week Mrs. Thirsty Lawyer and I went to Hospitality Uncorked where Caroline Beteta, the CEO of our client Visit California, was being honored for her commitment to California's hospitality industry.  It was a great event with food stations from well known Southern California restaurants and wine from some of California's finest wineries.  Also present was Northern California based wine and spirits maker, Charbay.

Charbay is an extremely unique, small family owned winery and distillery located in Napa Valley.  I was fortunate enough to visit their winery last time I was in Napa.  Although you can't taste any of their spirits at the winery, I did get to enjoy some of their excellent wine.

Thankfully, Charbay was featuring two great cocktails at the Hospitality Uncorked; the June Gloom and the California Citrus.  I enjoyed the June Gloom, which is anything but gloomy.  Bright flavors of Tahitian Vanilla infused rum, ginger beer and fresh squeezed lemon juice would brighten up any day.

June Gloom

1.5 oz Tahitian Vanilla Rum
,5 oz Lemon Juice
Splash of ginger beer
Served on the rocks in a low ball cocktail glass

Redbreast Cocktail

One need not limit the consumption of Irish whiskey to St. Patrick's day, The Redbreast cocktail can be enjoyed any day of the year.

The Redbreast Cocktail

2 oz. Redbreast Irish whiskey
.75 oz. Lillet
.25 oz. Triple sec
Dash of blood orange bitters

Some of the Irish

Nothing better after cheering on the LA Marathoners than a cup of the Irish. Happy St. Patrick's day.

New Cocktail Featuring Popcorn Sutton Tennessee White Whiskey

I finally managed to obtain two bottles of Popcorn Sutton Tennessee White Whiskey.   You would think the fact that they are a client of mine I would have been able to put my hands on a few bottles a bit earlier.  Better late than never.  Popcorn Sutton isn't yet available in California, but for those of you who find yourself in Nashville, it is offered at the better saloons in town.

This past Friday I put Popcorn to work and experimented with a few different cocktail recipes. Popcorn Sutton works extremely well in cocktails: the taste is well balanced between sweet and spicy, and it has a nice floral bouquet. It has some of raw, astringent qualities you would expect from an un-aged whiskey, but overall its extremely drinkable.

My first cocktail was a slight deviation on the classic Boulevardier. (I can't understand why the Boulevardier hasn't experienced the same exuberant resurgence as its progeny, the Manhattan and the Negroni.) I took a bit of a liberty in adding a dash of both orange and Angostura bitters.  The result was one excellent drink!

2 oz Popcorn Sutton Tennessee White Whiskey
1 oz Campari
1 oz 1 ounce sweet vermouth (I prefer Carpano Antica)
dash Angostura Bitters
dash Orange Bitters.

Shake and serve up with a Meyer lemon twist.

Warm Day; Springtime Twist On A French 75

Even though it's the middle of February, the last few days have been particularly warm in Los Angeles. Saturday we had some friends from Northern California visiting, and at the end of what felt like a spring day I decided to take a gin based French 75 for a spring time spin with rosemary simple syrup, meyer lemons and Brut rosé sparkling wine (we used Mumm but any good brand will do). The result was one incredibly refreshing cocktail.

2 oz dry gin
.5 oz rosemary simple syrup
fresh squeezed meyer lemon juice (half a lemon)
Shake, serve on the rocks and top with Brut rosé sparkling wine

Client News - Congratulations to MX Digital on Launch of "The Hoff" Game Series

Congratulations to our client, MX Digital, on the launch of its line of David Hasselhoff's themed on-line waged games.  Looking forward to lots more deals to come.

Pre NYE Manhattan Cocktail

2 oz Old Overholt rye
1 oz Antica
House made clove bitters
Angostura bitters