The Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition has announced its Lucky 13—the thirteen bartenders who will on Aug. 21 to compete for the Midwest’s premier bartending title. Of course, it’s not all luck. Each of these pros has already created a unique cocktail; next, they must batch it for the event’s tasting room (which means you,… Continue Reading
For those of you who missed yesterday’s Kansas City Star, here’s a list of some worthy cocktails and spirits reads. For those of you who did see it, read on—there are a few extra bits that didn’t make it into the printed version. The King of Vodka—Linda Himelstein recounts Pyotr Smirnov’s rise from serfdom to… Continue Reading
MAY 19 UPDATE: When I spoke with Maybee last week, the trip was on. But he canceled it after Howard Hanna, Maybee’s partner in The Rieger/Manifesto, lost a family member. Our condolences to Hanna and his family, and apologies to readers for an off post. Still, pretty cool that Maybee’s in Gaz’s book. A deserved… Continue Reading
What could be better than drinking great cocktails, unless you’re drinking great cocktails for charity? That’s the whole point of The Art of the Cocktail, the tenth annual An Evening Among Friends fundraiser for Turning Point. Ryan Maybee of The Rieger & Manifesto fame created six (six!) cocktails for the event, and members of the… Continue Reading
Mezcal. I’d read about it, but never given it much thought. Even after Doug Frost opined about its smokey richness back in, oh, 2007 or so. Even after Saveur published a killer article about it in 2009. Even after Ryan Maybee stocked Manifesto’s bar with it, and Beau Williams earned second place with his mezcal-based… Continue Reading