After an exhausting 3 days of challenges, drinking, travelling and assorted other activities the winner of the G’Vine Connoisseur Competition was Stephan Hinz from Germany (Shephard Bar in Cologne). Really, this wasn’t an easy victory. Any one of the twelve bartenders could have challenged for the top position, but circumstances, preparedness and the ability to know when to go to […]
Travel
G’Vine Bartender Summaries
Bartending competition results can never tell the whole story, nor do they reflect the true strengths of each competitor. However, numbered rankings often seem harsh, especially to those who didn’t come in first. Like those old “No Fear” t-shirts from the 1990s that claimed “second place is the first loser”, numbers are merciless. So for a little more balance, and […]
G’Vine Bartender Summaries Pt. II
And here are the final bartender summaries for the top six competitors. Sometimes circumstances have an interesting effect on the final positions in any competition. There is no doubt that things like jet-lag, smoke inhalation and the sniffles can make or break a competitor. But, the top competitors always find a way to rise above these things and still give […]
Portland Cocktail Week
Last time, on Art of Drink…..Darcy had spent a night out with Rocky visiting some cool places in Seattle. The following day (Wednesday) was an easy morning followed by a ride with Rocky to Portland, for Portland Cocktail Week and the Distillers Festival. An already fun week was capped off with a top notch group of bartenders and industry people. […]
Bars & Cocktails in Seattle
After Victoria, I headed down to Seattle for basically a day, but I made the best of it with the help of Rocky Yeh (NW Vivant). If anyone knows good food and good drinks it’s Rocky. A group of use took the ferry and then all disappeared for a good night of sleep. After a restful night of sleep I […]
Art of the Cocktail: Day Two
This would be day two of Art of the Cocktail, and it was—not surprisingly—a busy and educational day. Three sessions were in the queue for me, one on Italian cocktails, another on working with oddball ingredients and finally a dash of tiki to finish the day. Of course, this was all followed by a night of drinking fine cocktails and […]
Art of the Cocktail
After an early morning flight to Victoria, I checked into the hotel and got set for the first day of Art of the Cocktail. This event is tiny compared to Tales of the Cocktail or the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, but that’s actually a good thing. There are a limited number of events each day with a much more relaxed pace. […]
Victoria, Seattle and Portland
Travel and drink 2010 continues, this time I’ll be hitting Victoria, British Columbia for Art of the Cocktail (October 16 and 17) then I’ll be heading to Seattle for 2 days followed by 3 in Portland for Drink.Write 2010 and Portland Cocktail Week. For Art of the Cocktail, I’ll be attending a few sessions, like the Oddballs by Ted "Dr. […]
Tales 2010 Summary
Wow, what a week. This year was bigger and better than last year. In fact there were so many people I wanted to have a drink with that there just wasn’t enough time. But I did manage to drink my fair share and chat with a lot of people. This year I went as a presenter and not media. I […]