The Paris of the Plains Cocktail Festival in Kansas City, Mo., the largest gathering of its kind in the Midwest, concluded Sunday with much fanfare. St. Louis was well represented at Popfest with two competitors, Kyle Mathis of Taste and Mandi Kowalski of Sanctuaria competing in an individual bartending competition Sunday evening. The audience voted Kowlaski one of two crowd favorites. St. Louis bartenders Justin Cardwell, Jayne Pellegrino, Kyle Mathis and I also won the Midwest Melee, an event for cocktail bragging rights among four-person teams from Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago and Denver.
Events at the five-day festival took place at Kansas City establishments like The Rieger Hotel, Kill Devil Club and The American Restaurant and were focused on the city’s drinking roots. This included Popfest founder Ryan Maybe’s homage via cocktail to early 20th-century corrupt political boss, Tom Pendergast. Events were well attended and well enjoyed by St. Louis cocktailians and hospitality industry professionals.
PopFest also offered education seminars lead by industry experts, covering everything from mezcal to beer cocktails. The latter proved the best attended and most celebrated of the week. Hosted at the Boulevard Brewery and lead by former St. Louisian Chad George, Adam Seger and Boulevard’s Andy Jenkins, the group discussed how to capitalize on the recent trend of using beer as a cocktail ingredient. The Eulogy, their rift on a Last Word, balanced gin, green chartreuse, jasmine liqueur and sugar with Boulevard’s Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale.
The Eulogy
1 serving
1 ½ oz. London dry gin
¾ oz. green chartreuse
½ oz. Fruitlab Jasmine Liqueur
¼ oz. simple syrup
1 ½ oz. Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale
Build the gin, green chartreuse, jasmine liqueur and simple syrup in a shaker. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Top with the Tank 7 and gently stir to incorporate ingredients.
-Photos courtesy of Jacqui and Michael Segura of Cocktail Ambassador
This article appears in August 2013.