My Birthday Weekend at Manhattan Cocktail Classic
The Manhattan Cocktail Classic, one of my favorite annual industry events, was such a blast this year!
To start off my birthday weekend on a visit to Pernod Ricard I got to toast start the weekend off with a toast of 40 year old scotch ($3,500 a bottle)! Bling…
Each morning the MCC conference began in fabulous style with Demitiri of Demitri’s Bloody Mary Mix whipping up his utterly delicious Bloody Marys—talk about a great start to the day!
These tasty libations were followed by full days of super-informative and creative professional programming, technology demos, panel discussions, exclusive tastings and more!
After the first day of lectures and lessons, I spent the evening bar-hopping with pal Siiri Simpson for her maiden voyage to New York. Our first must-visit stop included one of my faves, the ultra-cool speakeasy PDT, then it was off to Tippler to see good buddy Ms. Franky for more late-night libations!
For my birthday dinner, friends and I started out at the Fat Radish for drinks and apps then we headed to the funky and delicious Jeepney restaurant, a Filipino gastropub, where the Squid Ink Pancit was to die for—yum!
One of my trip’s biggest highlights was the No Kid Hungry fundraiser which I volunteered to help with in the William Grant/Small Screen suite at the Andaz Hotel. MC’d by Billy Harris, the event was hosted by a slew of fabulous cocktail and foodie icons such as celebrity mixologist Charlotte Voisey, celebrity chef and entertaining expert Linnea Johansson and CEO/founder of Small Screen Network (home of my Liquid Kitchen cocktail show, of course!) Colin Kimball.
This all-star team of food and beverage pros whipped up amazing nibbles and cocktails—and I served my California Roll Deviled Eggs from my new book D’Lish Deviled Eggs! Other celebrity guest chefs starring on the fundraiser stage were super-charming Fredrik Berselius of Aska, Anna Boiardi of E! Network’s Playing with Fire, and Linnea Johansson. What an honor to be teamed up with these fantastic chefs!
No Kid Hungry raised donations by auctioning off some really fabulous items including the top item: Host your own show on Small Screen: a Six Episode Web Video Series—WOW, can’t wait to see that.
Manhattan Cocktail Classic is such a fun and libatious time—there are always new spirits to taste, seminars to learn from, new people to meet, and old friends to see! Until next year!
– Kathy
This story is courtesy of and originally ran at KathyCasey.com.