Sometimes you need a little spice in your life, which is why we ended up at Upstairs at Midtown Wednesday night for the Ancho Reyes liqueur launch. We got to taste three cocktails featuring the chile liqueur, and while all were promising, The Paloma was the showstopper. This tasty drink featured freshly squeezed grapefruit and lime juice and grapefruit soda that left us feeling — shocker — healthy. Local Ben Arnold rep, “tequila ambassador,” and native Nicaraguan Maria Jose Lehman assures us Ancho Reyes will be on liquor stores shelves soon.
Thursday we went to the Charleston Wine + Food Festival’s Art in a Glass kickoff featuring the finalists for the official festival cocktail. Ironically, there was no glass involved. Instead a plastic shot glass was procured at each station. Jeremiah Schenzel of The Cocktail Club’s My Two Pearls was the big winner. One party-goer remarked that the drink “tasted like a real oyster.” Safe to say that guest had many glorified shot glass samples. It’s true, Schenzel crafted a fantastic gin-based miniature drink that tasted like the obvious winner and would make a great addition to any happy hour.
The Taste of Folly ended up on our agenda Saturday, and to make the event even more exciting, our friend also treated us to the use of his selfie stick. That sounds like a euphemism, but it isn’t. As we used the tool for taking selfies, we observed that the crowd seemed a bit sparse — we blame the cold — but the vendors were plentiful. After a choice of pork or chicken at Taco Boy, it was time to ask the Folly Fire Department if we could use their fire truck that was set up in the street. After a few “who are yous?” from the firefighters, we decided to slide into Surf Bar and painkill it.
There had to be no less than 700,000 people attending the Boone Hall Lowcountry Oyster Festival on Sunday. We know because we went. When planning to attend the Oyster Festival, your best bet for getting there is for someone in the car in front of you to have a coronary and EMS take the wheel.
When we finally arrived, we beelined for the oyster eating contest, always a crowd favorite. Perhaps a perk of the contest is that you are not tasked with shucking them yourself, though you’ll have to weigh the pros with the cons with the impending oyster hangover the next day.
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