The Atlanta Food & Wine Festival this week!

Drink in all the South has to offer this week and join BourbonBlog.com at The Atlanta Food & Wine Festival!

Mint Juleps, Old Fashioneds, Sazeracs & Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon – the Southern cocktail culture is thriving as you know. From May 19-22, Festival guests will enjoy Southern cocktails and spirits from such beverage innovators and luminaries as Greg Best from Atlanta’s Holeman & Finch Public House and Julian Van Winkle of Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery, while learning about the history and future of distilling in the South. In fact, BourbonBlog.com‘s own Tom Fischer will be presenting at at the Blogger Insight session along with some leading food, lifestyle and beverage bloggers.

Purchase tickets now to the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, visit this link for complete schedule and ticket information. Follow then on @ATLFoodandWine and be watching our own Twitter @BourbonBlog as we’ll be tweeting live from the Festival !

Cocktail fans can partake in a variety of spirited Festival attractions over the course of the three-day epicurean weekend, including an eye-opening Breakfast Cocktails seminar with Neal Bodenheimer from Cure; the seasonally- and locally-inspired Farm to Cocktail with Todd Thrasher from PX; and an examination of all things moonshine at White Lightnin’ with NASCAR legend Junior Johnson, Brian Call and Joe Michalek from Piedmont Distillers.

Inspired by Southern sipping staple Coca-Cola, the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival will also feature seminars called “Coke-tails,” led by Greg Best, highlighting the flavor profile of the iconic cola. So here’s a cocktail recipe to leave you wanting more…

The Pause that Refreshes, courtesy of Greg Best

5 oz sparkling wine (brut or cava recommended)
3/4 oz. Coca-Cola gastrique*
2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters #6
Lemon twist

– Pour the gastrique and the bitters into a Champagne flute
– Top with 5 ounces of sparkling wine
– Garnish with a lemon twist

*In a medium saucepot, add equal parts Coca-Cola ClassicTM, sorghum syrup, and cider vinegar.
Reduce by two thirds. Remove from heat and cool before using.

Greg Best has been credited with kick-starting the craft cocktail movement in Atlanta with his work behind the bar at the award-winning Restaurant Eugene and Holeman & Finch Public House and the newly opened H+F Bottle Shop.