Cheap Date   This cheap date that involves lunch at 21, a trip to France to visit the Bénédictine distillery, and TAMI  Who is TAMI?  Well you might ask . . . We started out at the '21' Club in New York (this is the entrance to their secret cellar dining room).  Over lunch Gary created a new cocktail containing B & B, and let's just say that it didn't work very well.  Gary was perplexed. From 21 to Fecamp, France, where Gary and these two very cool chicks, journalists Deborah Grossman and Sally King, visited the Palais Bénédictine. The Pot Stills at the Bénédictine Distillery doffed their hats to us before we left for . . . a nifty Art Gallery in Paris followed by dinner at . . . Maxim's! By this time Gary had reformulated the drink he screwed up at 21, and the cocktail, TAMI, was born on  October 18, 2007, at Maxim's, Paris.  Here's the recipe: TAMI 1/2 ounce B & B (or Benedictine), to rinse the glass 2 1/2 ounces cognac 1 ounce Noilly Prat sweet vermouth 1 dash Angostura bitters Rinse a chilled cocktail glass with B & B, and discard the excess.  Stir the remaining ingredients over ice and strain into the prepared glass. The Palais Bénédictine in Fecamp, France, represents Tradition and Modernity, Art, and Industry.  TAMI was named for these four features after the initials were rearranged a little. After taking in a show at Moulin Rouge We ended up at the Experimental Cocktail Club in Paris.  It's a tres cool joint. Thanks to the good folk at the Palais Benedictine, Deussen Global Communications--yes, the same guys who took Jonathan to London escorted Gary to France.  They tell us that Gary was far better behaved than Jonathan was, too.  And a BIG THANKS to the gang at the Experimental Cocktail Club for making us feel so damned welcome.  The trip was a blast. Source: http://www.ardentspirits.com