A Look Back At ‘For The Love Of Cocktails’

The third annual For the Love Of Cocktails charity mixology festival focused year three on growth and successfully offered expanded activities and events for professionals and novices in cocktail culture.

This year attendees were treated to the first of its kind evening of downtown cocktail culture complete with a Mixology Pub Crawl and USBG Cocktail Food Truck Wars. The event highlighted over eight Downtown Las Vegas bars, with each bar offering a specialty prepared cocktail. In addition to the eight plus bar stops pub-crawlers were treated to two dining options, Carson Kitchen and Glutton.

This new component was a hit with locals and visitors from out of state alike. The evening concluded with the Cocktail Food Truck Wars at Gold Spike, an event that paired six local chefs and mixologists to craft a cocktail and food pairing to woo the crowd. Upon entering the Gold Spike backyard, each attendee was treated to a special cocktail called a ‘Tom & Jerry’ made famous by Tony Abou-Ganim’s cousin Helen David.

Meet The Master of Mixology and Winner Reception and Dinner was brought back this year with returning master mixologists Tony Abou-Ganim and Francesco Lafranconi joined by Julio Cabrera and the incomparable Salvatore Calabrese. The Meet The Masters of Mixology Cocktail Reception was held inside The Cromwell Hotel & Casino at Salvatore Calabrese’s prestigious Bound Bar.

Photo Courtesy of Vladymyr Buryanov

After the cocktail reception concluded, the evening continued upstairs with a five-course wine pairing dinner at Giada Vegas. Headlining the dinner were two masters of wine, Joseph Phillips and Marcus Notaro. Each wine master introduced rare wines from the Ste. Michelle and Antinori Wine Estate’s portfolios.

Included was also half a day of exciting learning experiences and indulging in cocktails. Delano Las Vegas played host for the third time to the For The Love Of Cocktails Grand Gala. With 25 mixology stations the crowds were treated to some of the best cocktails from the top mixologists in the city. Each venue Skyfall and Rivea offered different vibes with lighting, music and cuisine.

If that wasn’t enough, FTLOC took the Grand Gala to another level by partnering with Light Nightclub to throw an after party featuring an open vodka bar and 50 Bleu bottle specials. After the gala concluded, gala goers headed downstairs to Light Nightclub to dance the night away to the Australian DJ duo the Stafford Brothers. For The Love Of Cocktails is such a dynamic event that draws in people from all across America to celebrate their love of cocktails all while supporting a good cause, the Helen David Relief Fund. We look forward to an even bigger and better For The Love Of Cocktails in 2017.

Photo Courtesy of Vladymyr Buryanov

Chilled 100’s own Vladymyr Buryanov, who attended this year’s For The Love Of Cocktails event, sent us this first-hand account of the event. “From my point of view the event was absolutely fantastic and so professionally organized. The quality of the cocktails being served were top-of-the-line and we never waited in any lines to be accommodated. Also, a great idea was that you could see the recipes of each cocktail on the screen or printed and placed on top of the bar.

We rubbed elbows with world-class mixologists all three days and got to meet famous bartenders such as Salvatore Calabrese, Tony Abu Ganim, Francesco Lafranconi and many, many more who were making cocktails for all the guests.

Photo Courtesy of Vladymyr Buryanov

On day two, the bar crawl, FTLOC had organized transportation between bars and everybody had a lot of fun inside the party buses. They also provided food, which was absolutely spectacular. And the night ended with a food truck war, where everybody could get food and drinks and vote for the best one.

But day three in my opinion was the best of all of them. Sky Lounge, at the Delano hotel with over 20 different bars was absolutely the best and nobody wanted to leave. Big moment of the night was when Tim from Backbar USA announced that FTLOC collected $20,000 for Helen David Relief fund and invited everybody to the after party inside Light nightclub.

Photo Courtesy of Vladymyr Buryanov

“Absolutely fantastic event not only for cocktail lovers but perfect for anyone interested in meeting new people, learning new things about craft cocktails and having a great time while visiting Las Vegas!”

To see all of the photos from this year’s For the Love of Cocktails event, CLICK HERE!