Going on right now: Ultimate Cocktail Challenge

Over at the Astor Center tables with carafes of liquid identified only by number as three judges sat at each table with a lone bartender

It's the Utlimate Cocktail Challenge, and for the next two days, different spirit brands are competing head-to-head in a blind taste test to determine which spirits come out on top when used for classic cocktails.

More on this later, but for now, two quick pictures:

Sean Hoard making Negronis to be judged by Julie Reiner, Dave Wondrich and Doug Frost.


Judges Jacques Bezuidenhout, Tad Carducci and Dale DeGroff tasting Cosmopolitans.