
No Booths
Gin and Canadian ice wine in a small nick-and-nora, served alone on a wide empty table
"If I had it my way, we would have no booths. We're not blowing our brains out anymore trying to be something that we're not." CSE Live now draws 700 to 800 people across one day, with 40-by-40 activation spaces instead of rows of booths.
Why this cocktail? She made the room smaller on purpose. One small glass, a lot of open table.
The Story
Getting there took thirty years of trying to be everything to everybody, venue after venue, before she let the show settle into what it actually is. The drink is the same argument: one small glass, nothing crowding it, deliberately under-scaled and served on purpose in the middle of a lot of open space. Ice wine because Canada makes something concentrated out of a hard season.
Read Full Story →Ingredients
- 1.5 oz gin
- 0.75 oz Canadian ice wine
- 0.25 oz lemon juice
- 1 dash orange bitters
- Thyme sprig
Preparation
- 1.Stir gin, ice wine, lemon and bitters over ice until cold.
- 2.Strain into a small chilled nick-and-nora.
- 3.Garnish with a single thyme sprig.
- 4.Serve alone, with nothing else on the table.
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