Tuesday, June 28, 2011

AGAVE ON THE ROCKS: RETHINKING TEQUILA WITH THE CALGARY BARTENDERS ASSOCIATION

The Calgary Bartenders Association's second event: Agave on the Rocks

Olives restaurant hosted the event which was devoted to the Mexican spirit

Guests were welcomed with a Beergarita - amazing with a lemon slushy "iceberg" as Garth Brown the restaurant's general manager dubbed it

Marlene and Garth Brown, proud supporters of the Calgary Bartenders Association

Leonidas chocolates from Manon’s Leonidas Belgian Chocolates in Britannia Plaza including this tequila inspired chocolate - tequila sunrise

Truffles and Gianduja chocolates

This time a daiquiri inspired chocolate



Franz Swinton pours some Corzo tequila for guests

Tasty nibbles like this quesadilla made by Chef Jonathan Canning were on hand for guests

Garth Brown shows the amazing difference between a conventional pillow case ice cube (in left hand) and the slower melting version from Kold Draft

Stephen Phipps near his showcase of tequila

Corzo tequila blanco

Colin Tait of Hotel Arts serves up some tequila

Corzo tequila reposado
Philippe Grandbois discusses spirits with a group of attendees
Corzo tequila anejo

Christina Mah of Charcut and a guest mix up her specialty for the night Tommy's Margarita

A closer look at the interactive cocktail for the evening Tommy's Margarita


For their second event, the Calgary Bartenders Association mixed it up - literally. Choosing tequila as their featured spirit the assocation wowed guests with a delicious welcome cocktail, the beergarita. Made with a lemony slush (a special machine was brought in) the drink was a great way to begin the evening. "Tequila is not just for shots. There is a stigma with tequila but it is so versatile," explained Jimmy Nguyen of Olives.

Olives restaurant hosted the event which featured three tequilas from Corzo. The Corzo Blanco is an unaged, filtered spirit that is light in colour. "I like this one because you can taste the agave the most," said Colin Tait of Raw Bar. The Corzo Resposado is a honey hued spirit with a slightly woody aroma. "There is an element of mixing with tequila and Corzo is a great, accessible choice," added Philippe Grandbois of Barmetrix and co-founder of the association. The third tasting was the Corzo anejo which is aged for a minimum of one year in oak barrels. "This is by far my favourite because of how smooth it is," commented Stephen Phipps of Brasserie Kensington.

Another unusual and fascinating debut was the Kold Draft ice cubes. Larger and more dense than convention ice cubes, the Kold Draft ice is slow melting (a boon to cocktails), harder and with less impurities. "At restaurants water is a huge resource. Ice cubes are such a small detail but make a huge difference to a drink. For bartenders it changes the way you think about mixing," said Garth Brown while holding two ice cubes to show the staggering difference between conventional and Kold Draft. Brown noted that the restaurant had conducted an experiment testing conventional ice cubes melting properties against those of Kold Draft - we had only to look at our drinks and the boulders of ice still intact after a quarter of an hour to realize the conclusion (it really does take a long time to melt the Kold Draft).

For those with a sweet tooth Leonidas in Britannia concocted tequila inspired chocolates and truffles which made cute and delicious party favours for guests. Paired with the cocktails it had CSL chanting Salud Cin cin!

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3 comments:

JrYYC788 said...

Awesome job guys. Corzo is one of my fave tequila's on the market, good balance and wont give you a bad hangover. Looks like it was a cool event

Sugar-Free Margarita Mix said...

Thanks for sharing such a nice blog.

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