Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/61075
Texas writer Kinky Friedman, producer of Man in Black Tequila. S an Antonio's population is over 1,130,000, but despite being Texas' second largest city, and the nation's seventh largest, it remains known usually for one thing: the Alamo. Don't get me wrong, that is a pretty good historical site, and one worth remembering. But you can't get a drink there—and just so you know, it's not worth the effort or risk to bring in one of your own. In late January, however, the fi rst San Antonio Cocktail Conference (SACC) convened in the Alamo City to highlight the people and brands behind modern cocktail movements in Texas and beyond. Although not quite up to the razzle dazzle of the Manhattan Cocktail Classic or the seasoned maturity of Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, the four-day SACC still celebrated the heritage and innovation of craft cocktails with an impressive lineup of professionals, and an inaugural spirit that heralded more great things to come. There was some serious festival-grade Founder Tito Beveridge (left) and Texas State Manager Ray Proctor of Tito's Handmade Vodka. buzz fl owing at times through the lovely and historic Sheraton Gunter Hotel, as gathering brand ambassadors, bartenders, cocktail experts and a fair number of cocktail enthusiasts got down to business. (By the way, all weekend we mingled with blade- lovers from the 2012 Knife Exposition, also at the hotel—there were liquor and knives everywhere and not a single ill incident.) Things really got underway Friday with various seminars covering the nuances of ice cutting, making homemade preserves and syrups, and adding heat to cocktails with certain spices. There were also brand demonstrations and plenty of one-on-one time with mixology masters. A sold-out crowd assembled to hear Tito Beveridge detail his unlikely but destiny- fi lled journey to becoming the fi rst permit- ted distiller of spirits in Texas. Standing comfortably in his usual white shirt, jeans, and boots he told the room, "I started mak- ing wine from Texas native Mustang grapes before I was ten. Made beer, too." Karah Carmack of Esquire Tavern mixed "Texas Sippers" (1½ oz. Tito's Vodka, ¼ oz. St-Germain and 2 oz. grapefruit juice shaken with ice, poured into cocktail glass with ice and topped with 1 oz. grapefruit soda), while Tito explained how it took almost two years to get federal and state permits because the proper regulations had to be written, submitted and accepted, essentially, as Texas law before he could legally distill a single drop. "The problem was that no one had ever applied for a permit. They simply didn't exist," Tito said. "I guess everybody before me who had this idea assumed that if it could be done it already would have. Nobody thought that all they had to do was be the fi rst. Or maybe they tried and gave up." In 1997 Tito began legally distilling in his hand-built 16-gallon copper still, grinding out a thousand cases that year; and in 2001 Tito's Handmade Vodka won Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. There was also plenty of activity at nearby april 2012 / the tasting panel / 111 PHOTO: ANTHONY HEAD PHOTO: KIRK WEDDLE