Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/113109
A LONE STAR LIFE Sandeman Porto Brand Ambassador Ligia Marques and Pernod Ricard USA Brand Manager Jennifer Drapisch keep the SACC crowds happy at the Tasting Room with plenty of Sandeman Port Sangria. Was Jason Stevens, Bar Manager for Bar Congress, feeling cocky about sitting in judgment of three professional sommeliers in a cocktail competition? ���It was actually nerve-wracking,��� he said. ���What they do exceeds what most bartenders can do. I wanted them each to win.��� outdated.���) ���It���s early, but we���re moving on everything,��� Angerstein assured me. The Gunter���s second-loor ballroom held the Tasting Room, where I immediately noticed there was nearly double the exhibitor space from last year. This is the conference���s main gathering spot, where every day I ran into several outof-town colleagues and made many new acquaintances���each of whom gave a lot of love to SACC and San Antone. For example, Arik Torren, a founding partner of Fidencio Mezcal, said, ���This is my irst time in San Antonio. It���s a beautiful city. This is a cool event for me to talk about my mezcal, experience many new products and bump into old friends.��� 136 / the tasting panel / march 2013 I found that SACC���s Tasting Room was also a great place to truly measure the pulse of the industry. This year���s chatter often included the role of digital technology and social media within alcohol culture. Robert Camillone of Canada���s Forty Creek Whisky told me, ���[Whisky Maker] John Hall tweets, and we have Facebook. It���s very important. We get more inquiries about where to ind our whisky through social media.��� Sly Cosmopoulos, Corporate Mixologist for Republic National Distributing Company, underscored the importance of being online when I caught up with her in-between conduct- ing her own mixology seminars. ���Blogs are important. A lot of people read blogs to get info on new brands and new lavors. They want to know how to incorporate them into their lifestyles,��� she said. ���It���s a quicker world than before. If you post a question or topic on Facebook you can get 25 responses from around the world within a minute.��� At night, SACCees (as I began referring to them) locked to several off-site locations���like the historic Esquire Tavern, the new and truly wonderful Brooklynite bar, and one of my favorite spots, SoHo Wine & Martini Bar. These and other venues show off a crosssection of the city���s vibrant nightlife. Despite being over 300 years old, there���s a fresh, reinvigorated ambience to downtown San Antonio. I mean, it ain���t some podunk cow town where they still parade steers down the street everyday (like they do in Fort Worth). One of my favorite moments over the weekend was seeing the one and only Dale DeGroff performing a musical lesson in cocktail history and lore at Bohanan���s Restaurant & Bar. DeGroff sang, played guitar, and thoroughly enchanted the standing-room only crowd, who sipped vintage cocktails, enjoyed chicken and wafles, and learned about bar life through the ages. The conference wound down���in a big, upbeat way���with a inal iesta at La Margarita. Sunday evening���s event included a mariachi band and several tequila producers showing off their distinct products and styles at this beloved Mexican restaurant. It was loud and crowded and boisterous, a lot of those irst-time SACCees told me they���ve already put next year���s conference on their calendars. There���s a different event I���ve already added to my 2014 calendar, one that takes place to the north of San Marcos. The SOMMS Under Fire competition, held this past January at Austin���s legendary Driskill Hotel, is to sommeliers what SACC is to mixologists���I mean, you couldn���t toss a tastevin inside the Driskill without striking someone wearing a pin from the Court of Master Sommeliers. Emceeing the night was Devon Broglie, Master Sommelier and Wine Buyer for the Southwest Region of Whole Foods. Broglie led three local somms���Bill Elsey (Advanced