We'll Drink To That: The Radio Room

We'll Drink to That " is a feature that highlights things that have us so excited that we just gotts to inform our readers! Know of a product, event, etc. that you think we'll drink to? E-mail us at TheHappyHourTour@gmail.com!

One thing that surprises people most is that I have never been to The Edison. That’s right – never. Not even for the 35 cents martini nights. So Dan Cox PR hosted an event for press & bloggers for The Radio Room at The Edison, I knew my time was due. Go-to-girl, Carrie, came along from the ride.

The Radio Room is a special event where great mixologists from all over the country come to The Edison to make their signature cocktails for one night. There are no vodka-cranberry drinks here.

Upon arrival at The Edison, Dan Cox immediately greeted us. It is rare that the person who actually hosts the list will greet people, let alone be present – nightclubs take notice! Not only did Dan greet us, but also he introduced himself, talked us through the night, and the press kit. It was a lot of information, but Dan did a great job in letting us know what we were in for that evening. We also had the pleasure of meeting Barbara Jacobs, the general manager, before hitting the bar.

For The Radio Room event, there were 4 mixologists serving up 6 different cocktails total. We arrived in the middle of the event so we didn’t have the pleasure of having a bartender talk us through our first drink choice. We decided to wing it. Carrie ordered the Rite of Spring by Don Lee of Momofuku in NYC. I ordered the Globo Rojo #2 by Zane Harris of Rob Roy in Seattle. Carrie’s drink was not our bag – at all. My drink was much better. It was good and interesting due to its smoky aftertaste. It wasn’t a drink I would have normally ordered, but that’s what drink previews are for, right? With the sweetness of the strawberries and the smoky aftertaste, I think it would be a nice compliment for a barbeque on a hot, summer day.

Globo Rojo #2 – blend of strawberries, mescal, tawny port, & bitters

Rite of Spring – a classic Gibson with a twist

After hitting up the tasty food table of meat, cheese, olives, deviled eggs, etc., we went up to the bar for round two. Luckily, our hot bartender crawl organizer, The Minty, had showed us the best side of the bar, so we knew where to spend the rest of our evening. We favored the side of Giuseppe Gonzalez of Dutch Kills & upcoming new bar Painkiller, both in NYC. His drinks of the evening were the Wild Orchid & Infante. The Wild Orchid was soooo ahhh-mazing that we sucked it down so fast. We were dying to try his other cocktail so for the sake of being ladies of not getting smashed in such a classy establishment, we split his second featured cocktail, The Infante, a tequila cocktail with orange blossom water and a hint of nutmeg. Neither of us are huge tequila drinkers, but this drink was equally amazing! It didn’t hurt that Giuseppe was the most social of all the bartenders, in our opinion anyway. He said that I reminded him of an ex-girlfriend which I took as a compliment since he made us such great drinks. Unfortunately, we got to try drinks by everyone but Simon Ford who works in London & NYC for Pernod Richard.

Wild Orchid – gin cocktail with notes of almond & elderflower, kissed with red wine

The next time I go to The Edison, I would love a tour. There are so many nooks and crannies (good for dates!) that I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to explore everywhere. Naturally, most people hung out at the bar. I would also love to meet Joseph Brooks, Director of Spirits. We spied him walking around, looking cute & friendly, but we would have loved to know what his signature drink is.

Thanks again to Dan Cox for the invite to such a fabulous event!

Stay tuned to The Edison’s website. The next Radio Room event is scheduled for May 25th.

-JG