Cocktail Bars Issue Local Drinking Guide

Seattle Cocktail Week nearly fizzled out this year. Members of the Washington State Bartenders Guild, overwhelmed by logistical details, first postponed the first-ever citywide spirits celebration, and then discarded ambitious plans for tastings, seminars, parties and a bar passport program. "There really are no events this year," organizer Andrew Friedman of Liberty Bar says.

But Cocktail Week organizers have produced a very handy guide to Seattle's cocktail scene. The 107-page book, which lists dozens and dozens of bars, is a useful souvenir of contemporary drinking around the city.

"It's a long story, but we just recently decided to do a cocktail week, so this is what we were able to put together at the last minute," Friedman says.

The guide, an outgrowth of the proposed passport program, is being distributed at participating bars; the suggested donation price is $2 a copy. Friedman says the sales plan was instituted in response to "incredible" interest in the guide, which includes contact information and a cocktail recipe for every listed bar.

Friedman was unsure whether participating bars planned to serve their featured drinks during Cocktail Week, which officially begins tomorrow. While the guide groups watering holes by neighborhood to facilitate barhopping, listed bars aren't obliged to serve specials on their designated "bar crawl" night. "We did not have any kind of rules for what individual bars will do," Friedman explains.

In honor of Cocktail Week, Liberty this Saturday is featuring drinks made with Suntory whisky. Here, a Suntory recipe from the guide's Liberty entry:

Japanese Gardener

Suntory Yamazaki 12-year Whisky
Apricot Liqueur
Peychaud's Bitters
Fresh Lemon Juice

Mix ingredients together, shake & pour over one big ol' block of ice. Garnish with a really long lemon twist.

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