PART ONE: ANTICIPATION:
Like a barrage of gin-fueled fireworks, cocktails have exploded across the dining landscape. Sometimes I wonder if a restaurant can survive in this day and age if it doesn’t have a real cocktail list. And by real, you know what I mean. Don’t get me wrong, mudslides and appletinis have their place. It’s just that that place happens to be at a TGI Fridays out on Long Island somewhere.
The Manhattan Cocktail Classic celebrates the cocktail and its evolution from something wonderful into something wonderfuler. For five days, starting yesterday (Friday), there will be something like fifty (50) events across the city (including places NOT in Manhattan). Tastings, seminars, and from what I can gather, history lessons.
I’ll be going to the Micro Spirits Odyssey at Butter Restaurant tomorrow (Sunday). They describe it as follows:
Head up the block from Astor Center on Sunday to the Micro Spirits Odyssey (MSO) – an all-day micro-distilling extravaganza at Butter Restaurant, featuring dozens of boutique brands, creative cocktails, and gourmet culinary pairings. The day offers attendees a wealth of exciting activities to explore, all for the price of a single ticket: a tasting room filled with craft brands, micro distillers, and delicious food; four fabulous seminars focusing on different aspects of the growing artisan distillery movement; and a bar and lounge area featuring the boutique brands in cocktails concocted by the talented team at Hush Cocktails especially for the Manhattan Cocktail Classic.
I’ll update this post after I get home tomorrow…
