Local cocktail luminaries and superfans gathered last night to celebrate the opening of the Museum of The American Cocktail, with MOTAC founder Dale DeGroff as master of ceremonies
The grand re-opening of the Museum of the American Cocktail, housed in the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, kicked off the history of tipsy in grand style. King Cocktail himself, Dale DeGroff, hosted a "seminar," which is a puzzling and dry word to describe the musical, maniacal, magical evening of stories and songs. Stories featured Rupert Murdoch, Harry Nilssen, Jacques Pepin, Ringo Starr, drunks, gangsters, and union laws forbidding the sale of oyster shooters.
DeGroff, along with partner in crime and SoFAB Vice President Philip Dobard, also regaled the crowd with songs that figured prominently in the stories told.
While being entertained, the audience enjoyed several cocktails as well as some of Purloo chef Ryan Hughes' regional fare, like fried catfish, tamales, and roasted beet salad, with later delights of deviled eggs and fried pickles. DeGroff declared one of the cocktails to be "Zombie-esque" and admitted it was created when they were packing up the previous MOTAC location and wanted to use up the booze that was left.
After the "seminar," attendees were treated to a cocktail reception and a presentation of several cocktail book galleys to SoFAB president Liz Williams for the MOTAC archives. Also, mezcal, which pumped the party up even more.
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