Friday, October 10, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Botanicals, Bitters, and Booze: Botanical Fall Cocktails
Enjoy an in-depth conversation from 2 – 4 pm on October 10 at MoonCloud in Great Barrington, discussing the history, geography, medicinal origins and modern uses of the world’s beautiful cocktail modifiers. We will showcase the integral elements of amaro, vermouth and fortified and aromatized wines with the techniques of building and enjoying craft cocktails at home and abroad. Included will be a packet of information for guests to read along and take home and stories about some of the “essential botanicals” such as cinchona bark, gentian and wormwood. There will also be recipes and literature about the “Three Featured Cocktails,” which guests will build, mix and tip back. Our first hour, we will enjoy the seminar and fun-fact frenzy from Billy Jack, followed by an hour of guests hands-on building and mixing their own cocktails to enjoy in the yard. Held on the lawn behind MoonCloud, 47 Railroad St. in Great Barrington, MA. Sponsored by Berkshire Botanical Garden, fees $85 for BBG members, $90 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/botanicals-bitters-and-booze-botanical-fall-cocktails-presented-conjunction-mooncloud
Billy Jack Paul is a Berkshire native who has been bartending for 19 years all over Berkshire County and North Carolina, as well as some guest appearances in Boston, NYC, and Oaxaca, México. He is the bartender/owner of MoonCloud in Great Barrington, MA. With a passion for the true roots of the industry, Billy Jack has studied the history and geography, as well as the botanical and medicinal origins, of spirits and cocktails. In addition to sharing the great stories of classic cocktails, he enjoys telling many of his own stories through dynamic themes and historical and/or literary references that act as “characters” in any given drink. “A cocktail is worth a thousand words,” he says, as he develops flavors and layers within each sip.
