Tag Archives: ARTINI 2012

Entertainment, Food and Drink, The Features
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ARTINI Week Four Feature Nights

Cocktail created by Alexandra Bookless of The Passenger for ARTINI 2012. Inspired by Rob Fischer's "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" 2008. Photo by Dan Swartz

ARTINI 2012 is tomorrow night! Eleven talented bartenders have created cocktails inspired by works in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Every Friday the We Love DC drinks team wrapped up the week’s feature nights with reviews of each ARTINI entry, to culminate at the (sold-out) gala on March 31st. Check out our notes from Week One, Week Two and Week Three, and find out what we thought of the final week.

ARTINI 10: Alexandra Bookless, The Passenger
Inspiration: Rob Fischer’s “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” 2008
Reviewer: Fedward

Alexandra Bookless, bar manager at the Passenger, has gotten where she is by having an encyclopedic knowledge of classic cocktail recipes combined with an excellent palate that allows her to create new twists on just about anything based on a customer’s mood. Approaching cocktail recipes as formulas (which I have pointed out before are magic) makes it possible to see where a substitution here or an extra ingredient there will create something all-new (or at least something that hasn’t been printed in a hundred different recipe books).

All of that is a really long winded way to say that if the Dance tastes kind of like a Margarita to you, well, that’s because it takes off from the Margarita formula. Served in a tall glass, the Dance takes its inspiration from Rob Fisher’s sculpture titled They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Special Events, The Features
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ARTINI: Week Two Feature Nights

Ronald Flores of Art and Soul's cocktail for ARTINI 2012. Photo credit: Dan Swartz. Courtesy of the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

ARTINI 2012 is underway! Twelve** Eleven talented bartenders have created cocktails inspired by works in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Every Friday the We Love DC drinks team will wrap up the week’s feature nights with reviews of each artini entry, to culminate at the gala on March 31st. We kicked off Week One last Friday; let’s see what Week Two had at the bar.

ARTINI 4: Jon Arroyo, Founding Farmers
Inspiration: Behind Every Good Man, Nina Chanel Abney, 2010, acrylic on canvas
Reviewer: Moses

What kind of beverage can be inspired by one of the hottest young American artists, Nina Chanel Abney? Abney was named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” this year, and her work starred in the Corcoran’s “30 Americans” exhibit this past autumn. Abney’s Behind Every Good Man depicts her characteristic mask-like facial imagery and buzz of sexual energy, creating an unsettling scene, where one look captures both terror and resignation. Continue reading →