Last night I attended a lavish industry event hosted by Diageo/Don Julio. Buses picked us up downtown and escorted us out to Villa Antonia, a special events facility on the outskirts of Austin near Lago Vista/Jonestown. The Villa was pretty posh in that Narco-baron fantasy sort of way. I was glad to be on a chauffeured bus instead of driving myself (especially after the mountain of tequila that was consumed at the event). Upon arriving at the venue we were greeted by a variety of drinking stations, which of course did not disappoint. The first one we stopped off at was staffed by our friend and colleague Michael Martensen, a bar man based in Dallas who does a lot of special functions for the Diageo "reserve" brands. Martensen wetted our whistles with a few shots of Don Julio, and gave us a preview of the Luxury Drop concept. Basically Don Julio has reached out to bartenders around the globe to find the best modern interpretations of the classic ritual of taking salt and lime with tequila. I personally don't like that ritual, classic as it may be, and prefer to drink my tequila straight. (I also don't dance at weddings, and am a confirmed asshole on this subject, so perhaps this event was better suited for someone less a party pooper than I? One would think, but hold on to see how this story develops...)
An example of a Luxury Drop is the the Snap, Crackle, Drop shot, in which one snaps his or her fingers, drops it "like it's hot", and takes the tequila shot on the way up, followed by a lime wedge coated in Angostura/black pepper paste. I am a fan of this flavor combination. I am, however, so uncool that I didn't realize at first that "drop it like it's hot" referred in this case to the dance move, something akin to "backing that ass up". I was able to pick this up only after Martensen demonstrated it, which was amusing in itself given that Martensen's mustachioed visage is more Howard Taft than Snoop Dog.
The main hall featured bar stations for each group
We were escorted into the main hall where a dozen bar stations were set up, facing a main stage area where a table was set up Iron Chef-style with piles of would-be cocktail ingredients. The Luxury Drop concept was elaborated on here, as we learned that the goal of the campaign was to create drinks that look so much fun to take that a group from across the bar might say "What are they having!? We want that." Usually that kind of drink makes me want to run quickly and far away from a place, but I had a "when in Rome" moment (and was also trapped miles from home with no means of escape except the bus that brought us there). I could only think of The Wave shot that they serve at a bar on Sixth St--the "ritual" here involves taking a shot and shouting "Gimme the Wave!" three times until the bartender throws a glass of cold water in your face. Great fun...for 21st birthdays. But what drinking ritual could we come up with that adults would be amused by?
We would have time to think on this as all of the teams gathered in the main dining room for a succulent repast prepared by Sterling Affairs (well, it was as succulent as a meal can be that was prepared off site half a day earlier and transported to the middle of nowhere for service). We had a grand flight of all five Don Julio marks, including their 1942 and Real luxury marks. At the dining table, I conversed with my teammates--Bill Norris, Ben Craven, and Jenn Tucker--about our Drop. We discussed a couple of options, such as the Drop Trou, in which we loose our britches and then take a shot whilst toasting the Don; or the Live Strong drop, in which we mime like we're riding a bicycle, "shoot up" with a sugar cane stick (one of the available garnishes), and then take our Don Julio shot. We decided against the first option, since one of our members had to trousers to drop. We decided against the Live Strong shot since Lance has yet to actually be convicted of any malfeasance. Then came my suggestion: The Droparena. We do a few steps of the Macarena, then shout "Hey, Droparena!" and take our shot. Since I am a wedding dance denier, I have actually never done the Macarena, so Jenn had to teach us the steps.
When it came time for our group to compete, we went to the stage, demonstrated the ritual to the judges, and it became apparent that they were especially interested in this performance. We all did the Droparena together, and since we were team 12 of 12, it wasn't very long before the winners were announced. And the winner was... us. One of my team members commented how surprised he was by my competitive drive with regards to the Droparena, but I was not surprised to discover that if a bottle of 1942 is at stake, I will do just about anything, including a few steps of a 1990s dance hall favorite.
