Right in the middle of the mind-boggling Tales, Thursday's festivities were perhaps the best yet! The Sandeman Port room was really delightful. One could try a drink that was chilled by way of the large ice sculpture it was poured through, have a number of different bon bons that were being made by hand (all of which were delicious), and have your photo taken with the emblematic hat and cape.
I quickly ran down the stairs to attend a room that I had been anticipating; Amaro Montenegro used dancers to demonstrate the complexity of their product when mixed with different drinks. For example, the ballet dancer demonstrated a Montenegro Mule, a burlesque dancer exemplified the Manhatten, and more. It was a dazzling display; a treat for the eyes and mouth.
A two-block walk brought me to the House of Blues to witness the intense Angostura Bitters Global Cocktail Challenge. The contestants from around the nation went head-to-head creating two cocktails each (a rum cocktail and a cocktail that included 10 dashes of bitters) for a panel of judges. The drinks were definitely very different tasting from each other, but the winning drink was on the sweeter side served on crushed ice.
In the afternoon, I went to the Patron XO room for some of their new flavors of the coffee liquer, one of which is very spicy and exciting. They left us with a few goodies like liquer-infused bon bons.
