Whiskey and Karaoke for the Win
SARATOGA SPRINGS – I’ll have a double…
On the menu tonight (Thursday, February 22nd) was a custom cocktail – a blend of elegance, and ‘get-down’ fun – showing that at Saratoga Beer Week you can pretty much pick whatever vibe you like and it will be available. And so, we present this evening’s festivities in two acts. And, remembering the adage that “Liquor before beer, and you’re in the clear,” I first set my sites on the Canfield Casino, wherein the Inaugural Saratoga Whiskey Night was underway….
A nice crowd for first time out of the box, drinking neat of course. Because the place was decently filled, yet not overly so, attendees were treated quite well, and it was apparent that the distilleries sent people who clearly know their stuff. I expect that the feedback will be very positive, and this event should grow nicely over the next couple of years.
But now a passage through a fresh coating of snow, to where, as M. Python is fond of saying, it was now time “for something completely different!.”
Now in its third year, Sierra Nevada’s Beer Rep Karaoke is the one Saratoga Beer Week event that many, in and out of the industry, have had circled on the calendar for quite some time, and the fact that the Saratoga City Tavern was also scheduled to be the last stop on a pub crawl that started 3+ hours earlier, guaranteed an audience that was indeed festive and responsive to the vocal stylings of your favorite beverage representatives.
As far as the talent level, while I can say that I didn’t hear any future Neil Diamonds in the house, there definitely were at least a few “diamonds in the rough” – so all in all, I would not expect too many resignations from people off to seek a life in show business… but what I did hear, loudest and clearest, were many people having a tremendous time.
Kudos to all who arranged this, and I hereby highly tout you on attending #4 next year…
Arthur Gonick
February 23, 2018
