Elite Event Highwire Lounge

Normally, I write reviews right after my visit/​event. This time, I gave myself a week to consider the best part of this Unilocal elite event. This was my first experience at Highwire, and I was really astronished with how unique all of the cocktails were. I knew that their signature angle was gastronomy, but I was really impressed with their other cocktails. In a city brimming with craft, hand-​crafted, old timey, twists-​on-​old-​favorites, and just plain olé fancy cocktails, I was really excited to find a place that keeps reinventing mixed drinks! They made our experience memorable by letting us perform a little mixology ourselves right off the bat! My favorite drink (its name escapes me), the one with roasted coffee beans, was such a treat! I was so glad they took the time to make it and explain it so thoroughly. When I come back, it’ll be for that bad boy.
The space was also gorgeous, and this event was a great opportunity to get to know some other Elites a lot better. My favorite part of the event was seeing how the three businesses in that complex have created a community. We got a chance to peek in on that community, and the owners of Highwire and Johnny Gibson’s made sure that we felt welcome there. I was really glad to get that sense from this event: our connections that we make through food and drink symbolize a larger connection and dedication to our beautiful city. So that’s it for my meta-​philosophizing. Thanks for a great event, Bella!

How can you not love a cocktail-​centered Elite event?! The cocktail icebreaker was so fun-​I loved making my own cocktail with my team, especially when the drink looks like magic in a glass with all the fun color changes!
The cocktail demos were incredibly entertaining-​I couldn’t look away from all the neat ingredients and techniques that make up each drink. Watching the cotton candy dissolving in vodka was downright mesmerizing!
And of course, thanks Bella!

I really enjoyed this event, that it has taken me a week to write about it. (sorry) But What a fun little area downtown is becoming. I really enjoyed the tates of all the drinks even though I Really didn’t taste just had some good sips. I did meet the owner of the enitre plaza Steve Gibson, who told me that he envisioned a place like this for a long time.
Great Job Bella and always great to see Gabby too!

Well what can I say! Another amazing event in a super cool environment. I love this space with the patio, the comfy furniture inside and out, and the helpful staff. The food was finger lickin’ good, loved the the lamb and the pork. Again back to the patio, love the use of the space being enclosed but not, it feels like being taken away to another place.

This elite event was great!
We found ourselves tucked away in a small courtyard in the heart of downtown. It was amazing! The demonstrations and mixology of all of our drinks was pretty neat and I am so glad some of my fellow Unilocal Elite got pictures because my eyes were just glued to the demonstration!
I really loved to bourbon drink that was demonstrated. I also loved the El Culi Prickly drink! Very, very good!
We enjoyed some good drinks, really yummy food, and the best company. Seriously Unilocal Elite is a really good group of people. I can’t think of a better way to spend a night! Thanks to everyone for such a fun evening!

This was one heck of an event, the mixologists at Highwire are doing some pretty spectacular things and Unilocal gave us the inside scoop! Well done Bella and the Unilocal staff!
The team building, get-​to-​know-​you activity was a very novel idea. Each of us had a test tube of some unknown liquid with a number on it. We matched up with like numbers and then created a drink. I think my favorite activity of the night, though, was the up-​close and personal demonstration of the making of their signature cocktails. So glad to be a part of Unilocal,keep up the great work!

This was my first event as an Elite member and I was pleasantly surprised. The cocktail demonstration was fun and interactive. Goodie bags with components for shots that required you to find other team members with corresponding components were fun and lighthearted. I enjoyed the cocktails that were sampled and the food from Johnny Gibsons. The food was actually my favorite part and the Shrimp and Sausage Po Boys were delightful. I could have ate an entire tray of those if it was possible.

Bella and (great surprise!) Gabi brought us together for a playful, community-​oriented event at Jacob Hise’s speakeasy-​style Highwire Lounge tucked into a comfortable downtown space shared by Johnny Gibson’s Market. We were treated to yummy pulled pork and shrimp po-​boys and stuffed lamb sliders and a craft cocktail drink demo that made us all feel like mixologists (or mad scientists in some cases). It was great to meet and mix with some new faces and reconnect with veterans. Thanks Highwire, and Unilocal yeeps rule!

This was my first elite event! So fun! We got tasty food and crazy drinks! And I met some very nice people too! John from HighWire hooked us up with some awesome demos of their gastronomic drinks, and I tried a few from the bar too.
Altogether a great event! I don’t have a good reference point for how to rate these things, so I’m going to say four stars for now (there’s always room for MORE FUN, right?). After going to a few more events I’ll come back and revise it if necessary.
Special shout out to Bella for setting this up, of course!

Another great Elite event! Thank you Bella and Unilocal for hosting.
I love the space both inside and out. The courtyard is shared between Gibsons market, Highwire and the Distillery… which is a very cool concept!
I tasted the pork taco and shrimp po’boy from Gibsons which were each packed with flavor.
Onto the drinks. First, we paired up in groups of 3 to combine our test tubes and make a combined shot! how cool. Then, in small groups, we got to see molecular cocktails in the making. See my pictures. I personally thought the pop rocks and cotton candy were very cool!

Free drinks? I’m in! This elite event was pretty awesome, not only were the drinks on Unilocal,but they were awesome and delicious! All of the drinks on the menu were unique and many of them (all that I tried) were delicious. I’m a bit of a light weight so some were too strong for me but still pretty tasty.
My favorite drink was the El Bulli Prickly Bubbles. It was made with Don Julio Blanco tequila, and a bit of a prickly pear flavor, I enjoyed the bubbles on top.
The food bites were great, the lamb crostini’s were perfection, I’ve been craving them all day!! Thank you Johnny Gibson’s for the awesome food! This location can be a bit difficult to find but it is a pretty amazing place, I love the shared patio space, what an awesome concept!
Thank you Bella for coordinating another wonderful event! Thank you fellow elites for a fun evening:)

This elite event was spectacular!
Crazy cool drinks made in super fancy ways that were way beyond my head but were very visually stimulating. I missed the whole chemistry explanations of the drinks the mixologist gave us and just enjoyed the show. Vodka jellies, dissolving cotton candy, and fire in a glass oh my! Chemistry obviously isn’t my strong suit or at least not when I’m drinking :). The bites to eat from JG Downtown Market were a nice treat too: a variety of finger sandwiches.
This was my first event as an Elite this year and I really enjoyed meeting everyone in that setting. It was cozy, comfy, and exciting. Everyone was really open to meeting each other and the newbies :).
The building that Highwire Lounge is in has a really cool setup with a big spacious courtyard that is shared with Johnny Gibson’s Downtown Market and a distillery (I can’t remember the name for the life of me). I’m a sucker for outdoor seating that furnished with decorative plants and string lights under the clear open sky! I can’t wait to take my husband back for date nights here!
Big thanks to everyone involved in organizing this event for us. Thank you Bella for all your hard work and a good time :).

What an amazing little place located in the heart of downtown!
Upon checking in, we received a goodie bag containing a mixture of items. The most import item was a little test tube with a number on it. With that test tube, you’re supposed to group up with individuals with the same number. After matching up with your new mates, you get to mix each tube and take a shot! What a great ice break!
My favorite drink of the night was a fiery bullet ray bourbon mixed with coffee beans and an orange peel. By setting the bourbon on fire — it allows the coffee beans and orange peel to cook and release its delicious oils. Never have I ever seen such amazing mixology! _​Thanks, John!
I love the floor plan, very modern and classy. Great place to bring a date for a little night cap or indulges in conversations with some great friends.
Overall, I had a smashing time — met a great number of amazing new Unilocalers and got a chance to catch up with the oldies!
Thanks for hosting yet another great event, Bella!

Another fantastic elite Unilocal event! This was a fun event! Lots of creativity was put into this by our hosts! Ala was so sweet and friendly, and I’m so impressed with Bella remembering everyone’s name — just really taking the time to know her Unilocal Community. It was a great mixer to get to know other Unilocalers — we had to find our groups and mix concoctions to share, then watch the awesome mixologist outside make us oysters, and an amazing coffee bean drink with bourbon, and a pop rocks and cotton candy drink! All so delicious, the po-​boys and pork belly snacks provided by Johnny Gibsons were awesome as well. I loved that we could go inside or outside and just mingle. FUN! Thank you!

Great gobs of gastronomic goodness! That’s what we got to experience at this event.
This was a team effort with mixological wizardry from Highwire and culinary creations from Johnny Gibson’s Downtown Market, which I found out is WAY more than just a grocery store.
We were first given goodie bags with test tubes in them with numbers on them. Our mission was to find the two other Unilocalers with the same numbers on their test tubes. A third of each of the test tubes was poured into a shot glass to form your test tube baby cocktail. Of course then you got to drink the shot. Wait… were just getting started.
John, the brains behind Highwire’s mixological madness, then gave us a demo and samples of three of Highwire’s signature libations. The first was a spherical (the liquor was turned into a sphere using John’s special technique) oyster shot with peach purée. It burst in your mouth! The Contortionist featured Pop Rocks (yes those childhood candies that popped in your mouth) and cotton candy. The third, whose name escapes me (probably just as well because it’s so complex to make they don’t offer it on the menu) featured cognac and coffee beans roasted right in the glass! They also offered to serve us cocktails later so I got to try the Manhattanish namesake, Highwire… loved it!
Meanwhile, our fellow Elite Unilocaler Ayla (remember her from Sullivan’s — she works here too), was circulating with trays and graciously providing us with fabulous food from Johnny Gibson’s: lamb crostinis with aioli and something sweet that I could not put my finger on, shrimp and sausage po boys with roasted veggies and spicy cornbread topped with pulled pork. YUM. YUM YUM.
ONCE AGAIN, Bella has organized an event far superior to what I expected. Of course she was aided by John, Ayla and Paul/​the fine people at Johnny Gibson’s. The beautiful courtyard setting, shared by these two businesses and the neighboring Independent Distillery, was the perfect setting for this gastromagical event. Thank you to all!

I had such a great time meeting everyone at my first Unilocal event! The drinks were amazing and creative! HighWire is definitely a spot I would hang out with friends. The staff were so friendly at this event and did a great job keeping everyone happy.
The first drink with the test tubes was great and very interactive! I feel like it was a great ice breaker for the people who don’t know each other and are new to the Unilocal Elite scene.
My second favorite was The Contortionist! This drink consisted of New Amsterdam Vodka, Smirnoff Vanilla Vodka, White Cranberry, Simple Syrup, Fresh Lime and was garnished by Pop Rocks and Fluff It Up Cotton Candy. I like fruity drinks, so this was a hit for me!
A big +1 for me is that they use local ingredients, like the Fluff It Up Cotton Candy! Fluff It Up has been making organic cotton candy in Tucson now for 50 years and they carry a variety of 53 flavors! They have flavors ranging from Cake Batter (uhm, yum!) and Garlic! They even sell their cotton candy on Etsy for people who aren’t Tucson locals and want Organic Cotton Candy!
The neatest drink of the night has to be the one where they used Spherification! This one really surprised me and was a great presentation put on by the mixologist. The mixologist did mention that this drink had no animal byproduct whatsoever! I think that will make this place a big hit with the vegan community!
I ordered off the menu and got a Funambulist’s Sunrise that consists of El Jimador Blanco, Orange, Pineapple, Cranberry Juice, Grenadine, a Citrus Rind, Luxardo Maraschino Cherry Garnish, and Tom Collins. This was a stronger drink than I first expected. I don’t drink very often, and when I do its mostly fruity drinks.
I’m honestly a light weight so all of these drinks gave me a decent level of drunkeness that I’m not used to. The only drink I didn’t like as much as the others was the one with the coffee beans, simply because I’ve brushed my teeth four times now and chewed gum and I can STILL taste that one!