I hope you made it out to Cocktail Wars, hosted by Dishcrawl Des Moines at Iowa Distilling Company in Cumming on Tuesday!
What a fun event! Four local Mixologists whipped up some yummy cocktails using Iowa Distilling Company's Iowa Shine Whiskey, Steel Drum Rum and Prairie fire Whiskey. So fun!
There were two ticket options, The VIP which included early admission as well as a behind the scenes tour and goodie bag and General Admission. Both were under $40 (with $10 coupon floating around) and both included 4 nice sized servings of the 4 cocktails.
Mixologists included Nick Eldrige form Americana, Dave Murrin-Von Ebers from Hessen Haus, Angel Cotten from Cattoors on Grand and Hailey Workman from the Lime Lounge.
Party-goers had the same idea as me when it came to judging! I thought Angel Cotten's Burnin' Pink Lady was the most creative, Dave Murrin-Von Eber's Bumpin' Granny was the tastiest and the all-around favorite was the Hot Toby.
Emcee Ben Gran provided some comedy, Rogue Sweet provided some kick-butt cupcakes made with the Iowa Distilling Co.'s whiskey and other local vendors provided snacks, candles, jam and even jewelery for the gift bags. Great event Dischcrawl Des Moines!
To the left are the recipes for the 4 cocktails sampled at the event! Pick up some Iowa Shine or Prairie Fire at your local grocery store, or stop into The Iowa Distilling Company for some samples and a free tour! The totally nice owners would love to show you around! Then you can try some of these recipes out at home! Read more info about The Iowa Distilling Company here.
If you saw the photo on Facebook of me sampling some whisky and rum on Friday, you know, my average day at work...You might have been wondering just what I was up to. Well, even if you weren't, I'm about to tell you all about it anyway!
I was just taking a tour and meeting the awesome guys at Iowa Distilling Company. Of course sampling the goods was necessary as well.
The guys have a great story about starting out distilling in one of their garages (with proper license of course) before eventually ending up in their current location, a 100-year old building in Cumming, Iowa, They opened here about a year and a half ago. It's conveniently located right across the street from The Cumming Tap.
The guys have come up with some stellar concoctions including all local grains. They have Caribbean molasses shipped in from Barbados for their rum, but they use local ingredients wherever possible.
We got to sample the Iowa Shine, which is a 100% local corn whisky that is smooth and exciting for those who don't do wheat gluten. We also tested the Steel Drum rum, which was lovely and their very popular Prairie Fire whiskey (my personal favorite) which is cinnamon-y and spicy and fantastic in warm apple cider. You can find their products at most local stores who carry liquor as well as a lot of bars and restaurants around Iowa.
They do tastings and tours on Saturday afternoons and Tuesday evenings, which is totally convenient since Tacopocalypse serves up tacos on Tuesday nights just across the way at the Cumming tap (who also carried their product). They also do tasting by appointment since they guys have flexible day jobs that allows lots of days spent at the Distillery working remotely. Tastings are free and Todd, Tom and Phil and truly nice guys who are excited to show you around, so you the process and share their knowledge and local product.
I'm also excited to announce that they are teaming up with Dischcrawl Des Moines to bring you "Cocktail Wars" on December 10th. 5 local bartenders will come up with a cocktail using an Iowa Distilling Co. rum or whiskey and participants get to vote on their favorite to crown the winner. Read more about Cocktail Wars and get tickets here.
Take a a short ride to Cumming and check out this awesome operation. Support local!
There were two ticket options, The VIP which included early admission as well as a behind the scenes tour and goodie bag and General Admission. Both were under $40 (with $10 coupon floating around) and both included 4 nice sized servings of the 4 cocktails.
To the left are the recipes for the 4 cocktails sampled at the event! Pick up some Iowa Shine or Prairie Fire at your local grocery store, or stop into The Iowa Distilling Company for some samples and a free tour! The totally nice owners would love to show you around! Then you can try some of these recipes out at home! Read more info about The Iowa Distilling Company here.
