Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, 2017.
One of my highest priorities as The Sipologist is to celebrate and discover the art of the cocktail with old and new friends alike. There are only a few events per year that are must-do's for me, and one of those is certainly the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival. Based in my home city, it's the perfect opportunity to deep dive into food and drink topics of interest while experiencing the stories behind their creation. The educational tracks are top notch and I always leave thirsty for more. 2017 attendees had the opportunity to rub elbows with the likes of cocktail expert David Wondrich, the brothers of Belle Meade Bourbon in Nashville, and the founders of Cure in New Orleans. If you've ever had a desire to expand your culinary network, this is the festival to do it.
The seminars I attended this year were informative and ranged from beginner to intermediate - perfect for a broad range of interest levels. I especially looked forward to hanging out on the terrace between events, as that's where I had some of my most enlightening and intimate conversations with industry experts. Of course the whole festival was kicked off with a killer event called Destination Delicious hosted at ASW that featured a Louisiana seafood spread with regional crab, shrimp, crawfish and oysters. Thirds, please? A couple of the delicious cocktails for the party were created by celebrated Atlanta bartenders Mercedes O'Brien, Eric Simpkins, and Brendan Town, as well as a few visiting bartenders Jayce McConnell and Bob Peters. Cheers to the 7th Annual Atlanta Food and Wine Festival! It was one for the books.