Last night I had the great pleasure of attending the Martin Miller’s Gin Thursday Drink Night, hosted by The Mixoloseum at the very handsome Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco. I was thoroughly deflowered on both counts – I’d never attended a Thursday Drink Night before, neither in person nor online, and it was my first time at Bourbon & Branch. Both gave me a very hearty and tasty welcome.

If you’re not yet acquainted with Thursday Drink Nights, here’s the premise: The Mixoloseum hosts a chat room where folks can join in on the action around the globe by submitting drink recipes for that week’s theme, and everybody – from home or from the hosted live location – mixes up the drinks in real time, modifying or improvising as needed (not everybody has got pickled asparagus spears or freshly muddled blackberries just lying around, but it helps to have a decently stocked bar with at least a handful of fresh ingredients at the ready). They give one another feedback and generally have a blast doing so.

Here are my favorite three cocktails from the night:

• BEES IN THE BASIL: 2oz Martin Miller’s gin, .75oz Lemon, .5oz Honey Syrup, Basil. Muddle basil & gin. Add other ingredients, shake w/ice, double-strain.
• LONDON BRIAR (BY GABE): 2oz Martin Miller’s gin, .5oz Creme de Framboise, .5oz Lime Juice, .25oz maraschino liqueur, .25oz green chartreuse.
• GINGER’S MORNING AFTER (BY CAMPER): 7 blackberries muddled, 2oz Martin Miller’s Westbourne gin, 1oz lemon juice, .25oz simple syrup, 2 extra-large basil leaves (de-veined), shake & strain into flute top with champagne & ginger beer.

Not only was it awesome to see a bunch of drink enthusiasts take over the private Russell Room with their laptops and an impressive spread of Indian food to nibble on throughout the night, but there was a live web broadcast of the event and some of us were lucky enough to get behind the bar and mix inspired cocktails ourselves! I can honestly say that I’d never miss another one and encourage y’all to join them if you can at the special Tales Of The Cocktail edition coming up in July.

Here are some photos from the event! Enjoy!

The Thursday Drink Night during Tales will actually be Sunday night July 5. It will begin at 7PM Central Time, which I believe is 5PM PDT. Generally speaking, TDN is every Thursday 4PM PDT.

Posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Filed under: Culture, Spirits by Aja