Arizona Cocktail Week 2016: Day Two
Guillermo Sauza and his team behind Tequila Fortaleza (all photos by Food & Lifestyles)
Day two of Arizona Cocktail Week saw another beautiful afternoon that was perfect for Cocktailgating at the Hotel Valley Ho and chatting with some of my favorite industry professionals (click this link for day one) .
With author and consultant Natalie Bovis of The Liquid Muse and Jim Beam mixologist Bobby Gleason.
I attended three seminars, starting with Tequila Patrón Inside and Out where we sampled Roca Patrón, their new line of 100% tahona-milled tequila, and enjoyed tequila Old Fashioneds and Mint Juleps.
Jack Daniel's HACK’D: Mastering Drink Photography with a Smartphone seminar was led by photographer Dustin Downing. It was a fun interactive class where we learned how to turn our phone grids on for the "rule of thirds", were given clip-on lenses for macro and fish eye shots, and encouraged to take some cocktail photos (here and here) and review them as a class.
Jillian Vose of The Dead Rabbit in NYC (winner of World's Best Bar) and Tim Herlihy of Tullamore Dew whiskey moderated 5 Drinks that Changed Irish Whiskey Forever. We learned about the history of Irish whiskey and the inspiration behind cocktails at Dead Rabbit as we sipped our way through the Irish Car Bomb, Cameron's Kick, The Tipperary, The Precision Pilot, and Irish Coffee.
I missed them this year, but in past years have had a fantastic time at two events that cap off Sunday's schedule - Storytellers Dinner and Top Bars. The special dinner of Storytellers set on the rooftop of the Hotel Valley Ho included stories and anecdotes from Arizona's talented chefs and mixologists. Last year's Top Bars was so popular that it returned again this year to showcase award-winning bars across the country for a unique pop-up event. This year, Arizona Cocktail Week 2016 brought The Dead Rabbit (NYC), Death & Co (NYC), Employees Only (NYC), Herbs & Rye (Las Vegas), Padrecito (San Francisco), Williams & Graham (Denver) and more to Scottsdale.
Visit these links for my recaps of other Arizona Cocktail Week 2016 events:
Day One
Day Three: Artisanal Market
Day Three: Day of the Rabbit at Counter Intuitive
Day Three: Last Slinger Standing
Day Four: Imbibe 'n Dine Dinner at Lon's at The Hermosa Inn
Day Four: Jade Bar Reunion
AZCW 2016: Buchanan's Whisky Golf Cart Pub Crawl
