NYC Tastes

This past week I was invited to the U.S. Cocktail Challenge hosted by The House of Angostura.  It was a face off between East Coast bartenders all vying for a spot in the finals at the fabulous Tales of the Cocktail  in New Orleans and ultimately a trip to Trinidad for the Global Cocktail Challenge finale.   The rules were simple...create two cocktails under six ingredients the first using 5 dashes of Angostura Bitters and the 2nd using Angostura Rum.  Maggie Arts the bartender/manager from  Salt of the Earth ,  Butcher & The Rye  and the brand new  Tako  out in Pittsburgh was the first to compete with her cocktail the Hummingbird's Garden. Spencer Warren (Beverage Director from Butcher & the Rye) was up next with his cocktail Rum for the Money followed by Megan Arts from  Marvel Bar  in Minnesota with the CocoTea and finally Aaron Butler from West Village favorite  L'Artusi  with his drink ...

This was a fabulous weekend to do a little tippling around the city. The spirit Industry's biggest event of the year, the Manhattan Cocktail Classic,  descended upon the city.  There were hundreds of fantastic events around town and a two day trade conference hosted at Convene downtown. Saturday Angostura Bitters took center stage at Convene mixing fabulous brunch cocktails like this Bloody and Bitter made with Mango Nectar and Tamarind Chutney. They also put out a pretty nice spread of food like these Angostura Deviled Eggs and some delicious Bitters Glazed Nuts. This was the first time the Invitational was held at Convene downtown and the space was awesome.  There were two seminars almost every hour discussing everything from The Development and History of our Palate to Everything You Wanted to Know About Rum.  If only every conference could have topics like these :) There were so many great spirits on display but one of...