The Winter Cocktail War

This was a pretty cool event. «free» drink samples and then two «free» full drinks of your choice from the competition. Very lively event with lots of attractive women. Oh, and when I went, they had these delicious mini taco thingys that tasted like heaven. Afterwards, you had access to the Roof Top party that was even more cool. Especially when they open the roof.
Definitely worth checking out, but try to get the deal price from Livingsocial or Groupon. Pay $ 40 instead of $ 80

The Lowdow:
What is it:
Each week, two of New York’s best mixologists compete head-​to-​head to create the best cocktail using a series of secret ingredients… judged by YOU!
What you get:
Appetizers, 5 cocktail tastings, 2 cocktails of your choice (from the 6), DJs, free admission to «Late Night» Hudson Terrace party
When:
8−10pm, Fridays from Jan 6^th thru April 6, 2012
Doors open at 7:30pm —
Upon arrival you are treated with one free patron Cocktail — The event is Sponsored by Patron.
Foodwise you have Hummus, Quesadillas, French Fries, Guacamole, Veggie/​Dip, Chips/​Salsa. If it’s hot it’s good, if it’s cold, its not.
They pass around small drinks as you wait for the event to begin, sweet!
There are Three Rounds — each with a secret ingredients. For our night (²⁄₁₀) they were (1) Bloody Mary Mix (2) Brown Sugar Syrup (3) Lime Juice
Eric (Team A) made a Horseradish Bloody Mary, Blood Orange Margarita and a Spin on Caipirinha
Sydney (Team B) made a Tomato-​ey Sweet Bloody Mary, Lemon Sorbet Margarita and an Apple Cider Drink
TIP #1 — It was exciting to try them all, the trick is to pretend to throw your tab (from your bracelet) into the bucket and just keep going back and forth trying them. Just keep getting in line!
TIP#2 — The MOMENT the competition ends go get your Full sized drinks (2). This is how they tally the winner. You only have like 10 min to get the drink and you can get it either from the bar or the competitors themselves. If you miss out, don’t fret — they are valid at the after party upstairs!
At the end of the night you will be happily dancing the night away — If you followed Tip#1 and got 4 samples of each of the 6 drinks. The only reason I downed this event to 3 stars is because the end was very uncoordinated, everyone was still enjoying the last round when they announce, you have 5 min to get your Drinks and vote. 5 min — 100+ ppl trying to get drinks? Really?
The Afterparty was pretty lame, slow, BUT at this point, it doesn’t matter because you’ve had a great night already and your with good friends, buzzed — or drunk, depending on your tolerance hahaha.
Another thing that upset us was the fact that we thought one particular bartender should have won, he had lines 3x longer than the other but in the end that worked against him because these people waiting in line never got to vote for him. Voting is skewed and it never fun to watch a deserving person lose for being too good.
Definitely give this event a try, it’s win win. OH! And I got my tickets on Goldstar for $ 10!
$ 10 for food, drinks and the Afterparty at Hudson Terrace. WIN WIN WIN! Go Go Go!!!