favorites:

green and orange (jackie patterson) – green chartreuse, lime, carrot, honey, cantaloupe, cilantro garnish. (if there was liquor other than the chartreuse she didn’t say.) [edit: recipe here] this was my favorite because not only was it delicious but it incorporated green chartreuse and carrot, two things that i think are difficult to use well in a cocktail, much less together.

tuscan smash (josh harris (?)) – fresh strawberries, roasted strawberries, balsamic vinegar, lemon, mint, sugar, galliano, rooibos bourbon tincture. whew! (here again, if there was a base spirit, it was not mentioned and i neglected to ask) the flavor was extremely complex, combining raw and cooked strawberries was genius. my main criticism is that it was too sweet and too viscous.

mountain peach (h. joseph erhmann) – square one botanical vodka, peach, lemon, lemon verbena. simple, and similar to another drink at the event, but this was perfectly balanced. [edit: recipe here]

howling mad (someone from bourbon and branch, forgot his name) – thai chili infused gin, thai basil, lemon, honey, ground coffee garnish. believe it or not, this all worked perfectly. the flavors were phenomenal. but a little too hot.

so, lots of fun, and lots to think about….

…

i’m really frustrated at my inability to ’stray from the script’. tonight, for example. i was giddy about the cocktails and intent on trying everything as expediently as possible, so i could revisit my favorites (not easy to move fluidly in that throng), and grab some of the passed-apps before depletion (which always happens, usually around 645). i was so focused on this that i basically blew off a couple people who tried to chat with me (both cuesa volunteers) and failed to seize the opportunity to chat with brooke arthur. this is sub-optimal on a couple levels, (a) sometimes chatting is fun, even for me (b), brooke would be a good person to know/impress. i wasn’t disrespectful, just taciturn. but that might seem impolite. or lame.