After five successful years educating budding cocktail artists and exploring the art of the cocktail in Victoria B.C. Canada’s premier cocktail event is coming to Calgary the first weekend in April.
The three day Art of the Cocktail festival celebrates cocktail culture with special events tastings and seminars and is venturing outside Victoria for the first time kicking off with a Grand Tasting on Saturday April 5 in the Jack Singer lobby at the Epcor Centre. Bartenders representing spirit brands and artisanal regional distilleries will be on hand creating cocktails for sampling and because food goes so well with drinks some of Calgary’s best restaurants will be showcasing their best nibbles as well.
The event kicks off a weekend of seminars bartender competitions industry guests and special happenings like the Three Cocktail Lunch — an opportunity to travel back to the ’60s at a classic mad men (and women) retro lunch at the Yellow Door Bistro featuring three variations on the classic martini and some martini lore and education from Victoria Spirits.
Confirmed workshop locations include The National’s Bourbon Room Raw Bar Yellow Door Bistro and Milk Tiger Lounge and special industry guests include Tony Conigliaro Manuel dias Barreira Philip Duff Joshua Groom Peter Hunt and Lisa Kadane. There are also 90-minute sessions that are open to the public and offer tutorials on topics like cocktail trends developing your own recipes mixing a proper Negroni or making your own bitters.
The weekend-long cocktail party wraps up with a farewell bowling finale at the National Bowl.
For more information to check the calendar and buy tickets to various events artofthecocktail.ca . Follow along on twitter @ArtofCocktail.