Please forgive the fact that this blog post wasn’t published until the afternoon. We had a late night. And a great night.

The very first installment of Buffalo’s brand new industry night, dubbed the IN event series, took place from 9 until midnight yesterday, and it was quite the experience.

The theme was cocktails, the crowd was thirsty, and the lineup was no joke.

Our city’s leading mixologists crafted incredible drink samples featuring rum, cognac, mezcal, and whiskey. Author and beverage expert Christine Sismondo was there with her new book "America Walks into a Bar: A Spirited History of Taverns and Saloons, Speakeasies and Grog Shops," the food was incredible, and at the end of the evening we were treated to a limited edition cocktail inspired ice cream made with a blend of bourbon, sweet vermouth, fresh lemon, bitters, and Fiegel Apiary’s honey.

We gave away some cool prizes like The Orange Bitters Collection, a Mixology Starter Gift Set, some reprints of this 1947 reprint of Angostura’s Professional Mixing Guide and a Premium Tonic Water Sample Pack and we had a lot of fun doing it.

Here’s a look into the menu and what went on:

Not a bad way to end a Monday.

Park Country Club’s Executive Chef James Roberts getting creative with his nitrogen-cooled Caipirinha Brasileira – a sugar cane and key lime force-infused Brazilian Cachaca sorbet with house-made caramelized sugar cane soda, and finger lime caviar with a sugar cane swizzle stick (Photo by Alli Suriani)

Jon Karel from Vera Pizzeria, getting down to business (Photo courtesy of ATP Designs)

Karel’s cocktail, The North Star – a blend of Rittenhouse Rye, simple syrup, fresh lemon juice, egg white, and absinthe with cinnamon, Angostura bitters, and a star anise garnish

Tony Rials of Mike A’s delighting the crowd (Photo by Alli Suriani)

We’d like to extend a big thanks to Christa Glennie Seychew for putting the event together and getting us involved – we’re loving our hometown of Buffalo just a little bit more today.

TAGS [ IN Event | Cocktails | Mixology ]