Posts Tagged ‘Astor Center’

COME OUT AND PLAY

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

CKTL JAM NYC Is The Center Of New Drink Development
By Francine Cohen

These past few months have been jam packed with spirited events – everything from Japanese bartending techniques, to the blow out MCC, Latin inspired drinks served up at the Gourmet Latino Festival, The Bar and Wine Show, and finally, the crowning jewel of the season’s liquid events calendar – CKTL JAM.

John Henry, PipeLine Partner put this event together at Astor Center (www.astorcenternyc.com) with the intention off offering the tri-state area’s bartenders a no-holds-barred place in which to experiment and learn from their fellow bartenders, all while having a whole lot of fun. For brands it’s an organic and laid back opportunity to get their product into the hands of bartenders who could serve as unofficial ambassadors as they are pouring the things they like for their customers. Henry says, “I want this ‘spring into summer’ cktl jam event to stand out as a fun pre-summer and pre-Tales reunion bash. It’s a place to come out and play with fellow bartenders.”

Bartenders were hosted at Astor Center for this event co-founded by PipeLine Brands which has quickly become a bi-annual showcase of the best artisanal brands. Playing behind the bar gets puts new and favorite brands into the hands of most creative mixologists, giving them a chance to explore

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JAM ON IT

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Go Ahead and Play the Field at CKTL JAM

Put 9 featured brands on the bar, add 9 bartenders, mix them all together and what you get is a whole lot of great drinks making their debut, and some innovative ideas about bartending.

That’s the method behind the madness of the semi-annual experimental cocktail laboratory fondly known as CKTL JAM, which is scheduled for Monday, June 28, from 6:00-10:00 PM. Hosted at Astor Center (www.astorcenterny.com) and co-founded by PipeLine Brands (www.pipelinebrands.com) this bi-annual showcase of the best artisanal brands and bartenders in play puts new and favorite brands into the hands of the tri-state area’s most creative mixologists, giving them a chance to explore new flavors and products that are just hitting the market. Guests on the other side of the bar have the distinct pleasure of rubbing elbows with the bartending elite and tasting new to market products while being among the first cocktail connoisseurs in the city to taste these on-the-fly cocktails and weigh in with their opinions.

The CKTL JAM-as-incubator works thanks to the objective (and often critical) audience of bartenders and cocktail aficionados in attendance who are happy guinea pigs/tasters of the drinks. As groups of brands are showcased hourly by a new 3 man shift behind the bar, attendees are able to see the mixology process in action as new drink creations are formed before their very eyes.

Drink creation isn’t the only goal of the evening. A number of interesting (and new) brands, including the newly launched Employees Only line of cordials, DonQ, Macchu Pisco, Maker’s Mark, Yamazaki, and more will be available for sampling straight and in signature cocktails at individual tasting tables. The evening’s recipes will be compiled and made accessible to all attendees.

This pre-summer and pre-Tales reunion bash was developed by PipeLine to benefit the U.S. Bartenders Guild New York Chapter (USBG-NY), offering bartenders a chance to forge a bond

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EAT, DRINK AND LEARN WITH LATIN FLAIR. FREE.

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Three INSIDERs can win tickets to Gourmet Latino Festival Seminars

What do you know about the Mezcal trail, the foods and national spirit of Brazil, and the wines and cuisine of Chile? Just enough so that you’ve whet your appetite and want to know more, or are you so knowledgeable that you bleed Pisco and make tamales in your sleep?

Whatever your level of expertise with the food and drink of Latin America you won’t want to miss out on the chance to win tickets to this weekend’s Gourmet Latino Festival.

We’ve got three pairs of tickets to give away for the following seminars (one pair per seminar, details on winning after the jump):

Pairing Perfection: Chile’s Top Wine Regions Paired with Classic Chilean Dishes
With Chef Jacques Gautier, Fred Dexheimer and Jorge Perez
Saturday, June 5, 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The Mezcal Trail: Travel Through the Seven Regions of Mezcal With Chef Roberto Santibañez and The Liquid Chef Junior Merino
Sunday, June 6, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Feel the Spirit of Brazil and Crank Up the Heat with Brazilian Food & Cocktails!
With Author/Chef Leticia Moreinos Schwartz, Olie Berlic, Vicente Bastos Ribeiro and Steve Luttmann
Sunday, June 6, 3:45 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.

This celebration of Latin culinary traditions and culture offers up a lively and tasty educational seminar series featuring food, cocktail and wine luminaries discussing and sampling authentic Latin dishes and drinks, as well as their interaction and cultural significance.

“I’m very proud of the level of the chefs, cocktail experts and sommeliers who are participating in our seminar program,” said Steve Olson, aka wine geek and beverage ambassador of the festival. “Moreover, it’s quite unique that the beverage and culinary sides will be presented simultaneously, as an organic whole, in all of our seminars. In the Latin world, the two always go hand-in-hand and we are thrilled to honor this tradition and provide this complete experience to New Yorkers and visiting out-of-towners.”

The festival and its seminars benefit

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WOMEN AND WHISKY

Monday, March 29th, 2010

LUPEC and Compass Box Partner for an Eventful Evening
By John Henry
Photography by Helena V. de Vengoechea Photography Inc.

Eventful.

It seems that every night in NYC there are liquor events. And damned if you don’t often see the same lushes with dubious press credentials swilling at every one. And rarely tipping, sad to say!

Since our recent PipeLine mantra in this difficult economy seems to be “we sell, therefore we are” it’s difficult to attend them all. Long gone are the high days of the Eber Brother portfolio tasting at Cipriani on 42d Street. I am personally partial to daytime events where buyers are there and ready to make the commitment to your brand. Or at least willing to set a follow up tasting appointment at their venue. The Holy Grail is to make a successful pitch for brand inclusion on their cocktail lists. Working with independent artisanal brands makes it all the more difficult as you don’t have the power of a large brand portfolio to leverage. Key buyers usually skirt the best events. Time is money. And leveraged we all are. Even in the determined world of organic, grass roots relationship building, no one wants to waste time.

The best events are simply hard to find. And they are even more difficult to pull off.
I had the privilege of attending the LUPEC World Women’s Day Cocktail TweetUp at the Astor Center (www.astorcenternyc.com) on Monday night, March 8th, and I want to tell you why it was one of the best events I have attended in the last year.

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