Seattle's Most Sustainable Cocktail to Be Determined--by You!--at Tini Bigs Tonight

Last Monday, Tom Douglas, Tini Bigs bartender Shane Sahr, and I sidled up to Sahr's bar to sample a sextet of drinks from Sahr's peers around town. We were tasked with narrowing the field to four, with the use of local liquors and ingredients factoring majorly into our assessment. We did so, and tonight, precisely one week later, these four bars--and drinks--will again be poured at Tini Bigs, with the winner (Sahr won last year) being declared Seattle's Best Sustainable Cocktail. Only this time, it's you, the public, who gets to make this determination--not the likes of Douglas and I.

The contest, sponsored by Tilth Producers of Washington, begins at 6. For the next four hours or so, Tini customers will guzzle drinks and cast votes, with the winner announced at 10:30. The Final Four features drinks and mixologists from Rob Roy, the Hunt Club, Bathtub Gin, and Bellevue's Naga Cocktail Lounge.

To whet your palate, following is the list of competing cocktails, along with their respective creators and recipes:

The Baxter (Andrew Bohrer, Rob Roy): 2 oz. Woodinville Whitedog Whiskey, 1 oz. fresh squeezed lime, .5 oz. cointreau, 1 oz. applesauce, Angostura & Peach bitters, 3 dashes lavender bitters. Combine in shaker and strain over fresh crushed ice in a double-old fashioned glass. Garnish with apple.

The Succubus (Jason Saura, Naga): 1.5 oz Woodinville Whitedog Whiskey, 0.75 oz. Cynar, .75 oz simple syrup, .5 oz red wine vinegar, .5 oz lemon juice, 5 raspberries. Muddle four of the five raspberries with the simple syrup and add the rest of the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and fine-strain into a V-stem, garnish with the last raspberry, and enjoy.

First Come, First Served (Devin Cutler, Bathtub Gin): 1.5 oz Woodinville White Dog Whiskey, 1 oz. Yellow Chartreuse, .5 oz. Blackberry Mint Shrub, 4 dashes Scrappy's Grapefruit Bitters. Build in an old-fashioned glass, shake or stir over ice. Fine-strain into a cocktail glass.

Thyme to Jam (Ross Lincoff, The Hunt Club): 1.5 oz thyme-infused Bainbridge Island Organic Gin, 1 oz. lime juice, 1 oz. Falernum, ¾ oz. Blackberry Jam, 5 thyme sprigs. Shake, double strain. Garnish with lime pith-wrapped blackberry.

Update, 9/13: And the winner is...Devin Cutler of Bathtub Gin! Using Scrappy's Bitters evidently pays dividends, and Chartreuse always makes things better.

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