"Bottoms up" at the elegant Cocktail Classic's Sunday Night Spectacular

By Lucy Komisar

The music was the swinging jazz of Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, which plays a regular gig in New York. The food was gourmet, and the libations were complex and delicious, all served up at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic’s “Sunday Night Spectacular” at the imposing grand Beaux Arts Astor Hall of the New York Public Library.

The invitation said "Fancy attire preferred," and participants complied. Dancing was encouraged, and some couples who looked like semi-pros attracted the happy attention of those of us who kept our drinks in our hands.

This event was the final celebration of the 2009 Manhattan Cocktail Classic, a multi-day cocktail conference and tasting. The Sunday evening event drew several hundred elegantly dressed tipplers to sample drinks at a dozen bars set up in different edges and corners of the hall. Recipes were pulled from over two centuries of local imbibing.

The "free lunch"—of the sort that accompanied cocktails in the glory days—included a huge four-sided table of oysters, with men hurriedly shucking as we ate, and sideboards of duck, pates, roasted game birds and exotic things done with vegetables. Also the best cheeses (my favorite, always goat) and chocolates. The roast pig looked like he was enjoying it all, too.

Cocktails were courtesy of Absolut Vodka, Bacardi Gold Rum, Bombay Original Gin, Bulleit Bourbon, Crop Organic Vodka, Don Julio Tequila, Don Q Rum, Grand Marnier, Hendrick’s Gin, Ketel One Vodka, Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Michter’s Rye, Solerno Liqueur, Tanqueray Gin, and Zacapa Rum.

The 2010 Manhattan Cocktail Classic, which is open to cocktails enthusiasts as well as professionals, will be May 14 to 18.

Visit www.manhattancocktailclassic.com

Lucy Komisar is a New York-based investigative journalist. She specializes in banking, financial issues, and international politics.

Photos by Doug Schneider.

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