In the spirit of the anniversary of the death of Edgar Allan Poe, there was a Craft Spirit of Poe cocktail competition at Penn Quarter’s The Loft. It was run by Les Dames D’Escoffier, a non-profit for women leaders in the food, beverage, and hospitality industries; the night raised $4,000 for scholarships. The judges: BYT’s Brandon Whetherbee, Young Winos’ Jessica Hagadorn, Just the Bottle’s Christina Portz, and food writer Nevin Martell.
Top local mixologists prepared these Poe-themed cocktails: Daikaya’s Lukas Smith – Nevermore, Hank’s Megan Coyle - The Black Cat, Ripple’s Caroline Blundell - The Raven's Claw, Room 11’s Jess Woods - In the Devil’s Chair, Buffalo’s Gina Cherservani - The Cask of Amontillado, Roofer’s Union’s Erin Goodman – Metzengerstein, and The Gibson’s Franklin Jones - Masque of Red Death. Here, Bloomberg’s John Fusco and American U’s Courtney Wells.
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