Once again, the Foodista team will belly up to the bar for another Drinking Lesson, this time the teacher is Erik Hakkinen, a bartender at Seattle’s infamous  Zig Zag Cafe , the same bar you will also find legendary Murray Stenson shaking things up.  Hakkinen will be stirring, muddling and mixing to a sold-out crowd tonight at the Sorrento Hotel’s Hunt Club bar. He may be young, but he has already made quite the name for himself. Check out why bar nerds are taking notice of Hakkinen.

Follow us tonight on twitter, the hash tag #drinkinglessons and we’ll also be posting on the Night School blog: http://www.foodista.com/nightschool/

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Drinking Lessons, a Night School event continues this Sunday, September 20th with Robert Hess behind the bar at the Sorrento Hotel in Seattle. At 6 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. Hess will mix, muddle and stir for 24 lucky attendees sitting around the smooth mahogany bar at the Hunt Club that is inside the swanky Sorrento Hotel.

Seattlite Robert Hess is founder of the Chanticleer Society, author of The Essential Bartender’s Guide: How to Make Truly Great Cocktails and operator of Drink Boy.com.

Want to go? Email nightschool@hotelsorrento.com for reservations.

Can’t go but want to follow via the virtual bar? Go to http://www.foodista.com/nightschool/ on Sunday night!

Cheers!

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It’s not surprising that a food renaissance should naturally bring with it a drink renaissance. For several years now, a bar or restaurant’s signature cocktail has become more than an over-priced martini with a fancy name at the top of the drink list,  a bar’s signature cocktail is  now as important as the day’s menu specials and just as creative. Today’s liquid infusions are methodical recipes crafted by professionals. Just like chefs experimenting with reductions, bartenders/mixologists are creating just as much of a stir when it comes to developing flavors.

At 5:50 and again at 8:00 p.m. tonight at the Sorrento Hotel, Ryan Magarian, one of America’s top mixologists  will be measuring, mixing and shaking things up for a very lucky audience of 12 for an ongoing cocktail class series aptly called Drinking Lessons, a Night School event inspired by Seattle artist Michael Hebb. If you can’t fly or drive into Seattle to sit at Sorrento’s 100-year old bar and watch and learn from the nation’s best cocktail creators, you can follow each Night School bartender at www.foodista.com/nightschool and see photos, interviews and get recipes in real-time via Foodista.

If you are planning to be in the Seattle area and want to get your hands onto some Night School tickets, email the Sorrento at nightschool@hotelsorrento.com

Above Photo: Mixologist Ryan Margarian

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Oh, do we have some cool things about to happen here in Seattle! An exciting new artsy-literary-food-cocktail series called Night School will kick off next Tuesday, August 18, at The Sorrento Hotel. Night School is a collaboration between The Sorrento, Michael Hebb, an array of intellectuals, artists, writers, filmmakers, mixologists, chefs and the leading cultural institutions in the Northwest.

The Sorrento opened in 1909, just before the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, a world’s fair that was held in Seattle to highlight the development of the Northwest. It was the first and most luxurious boutique hotel in the Northwest – the place where the well-heeled came to stay. People gathered in the opulent mahogany-paneled Fireside Room to hear music, poetry and conversations.

The series begins with Drinking Lessons, a Night School event. Twice a month the Sorrento Hotel will be hosting one of the countries leading liquor savants and dedicating the bar at the Hunt Club to an investigation of the American cocktail. Invitations have been extended to members of a small group of extraordinary bartenders, mixologists, and distillers that are re-shaping the American cocktail. Many have called this new school of mixology a “revolution” – regardless of terminology something very interesting is afoot and we are putting ourselves smack dab in the middle of the action. Twelve Drinking Lesson guests can expect an animated two-hour lesson in the preparation and history of three distinct cocktails.

In an effort to not only imbibe, but also to document the new American cocktail, Night School is partnering with Foodista. We will have staff on hand at all Drinking Lesson events to document the recipes, transcribe them to the web in real time, and create a web-based event out of the proceedings so that people around the globe can take part in the intimate experience at the bar. More information to come at foodista.com/nightschool.

First up at the bar is Ryan Magarian, President Liquid Relations/Co-Founder Aviation Gin. In his years “behind the stick” and on the consulting front, Ryan has received a nomination as Best Bartender in the city of Portland (Citysearch; 2000), was named Best Bartender in Seattle (Seattle Magazine; 2002), received a coveted Tastemaker Award (Food and Wine Magazine; 2004) and, most recently, was tapped as Seattle’s Best Mixologist (Seattle Weekly; 2005).  Ryan’s recipes have garnered notice in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, People Magazine, US Weekly, Men’s’ Health, Wallpaper, Food Arts, Fit Pregnancy, The LA Times, The San Francisco Chronicle…Come see him Monday, August 18, at 5:30pm and 8pm. Email nightschool@hotelsorrento.com for reservations, or follow along live on the Web!

More cool stuff to come!

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