Your guide to the region's top events, mixed with some commentary about life, media, gossip and politics in Washington, DC.

A Night Out: The Second Annual Artini Gala

Share | Print

By McLean Robbins Published Monday, March 30, 2009

What: Second annual Artini gala.
Where: Corcoran Gallery of Art.
When: Saturday, March 28, 8 PM to midnight.
Ticket Price: $80 (1869 Society Members) to $150 (included admission to VIP after party and tickets for raffle prizes).

A sold-out crowd of 725 guests sipped, danced, and mingled at the second annual Artini gala at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on Saturday night. It was the culmination of a month-long competition among 12 Washington bars to see who could create the most artistic martini, each inspired by a painting at the gallery. Guests also had a chance to view the Maya Lin exhibit, a massive display of mixed-media art, including one installation made of more than 50,000 two-by-fours forming a crazy hill-like shape and taking up an entire room.

What they did: Guests paid to sip the 12 artinis, nibble on a buffet of miniature pizza bites, hummus, sliders, cups of petite fries, and chocolates from Ridgewells catering and dance to the sounds of DJ Heather Femia. Upstairs, partygoers could sample artisanal brews and tastings of absinthe and red and white wine.

Photographs by Chris Leaman. Want to see more photos from Washington events and parties? Click here for Washingtonian.com's photo slideshow page.

Who swept the competition: Erik Holzherr of Wisdom was crowned the winner, although cocktails from PS7’s (a concoction of tequila, lemon, and Cointreau garnished with strawberry hearts), Mie N Yu (a banana daiquiri with gummy octopus and blue sugar on the rim), and Bourbon (a rum-based mix served in a re-sealed Capri Sun packet) were strong favorites as well.

The fashion scoop: The majority of the crowd took the “spring cocktail” dress code to heart, and showcased a blend of arty style that was refreshing.

Most women sported chic short dresses, often in bright colors. A few stood out in a good way: one woman sported a belted pink floral dress by Robert Rodriguez and another who paired a simple black tank with a multi-tiered pink skirt. Event coordinator Megan Harmon had an artful statement as well: a hot-pink Betsey Johnson dress was accented with glittering Chuck Taylors. “I knew I’d be running around all night,” she explained.

Men took fashion risks too, donning sleek shirts—one had adorable martini-and-shaker cufflinks in honor of the occasion—bow ties, and artful glasses, looking either well-dressed or hipster-chic.

The wrap up: Unlike last year’s event, lines at martini stations were of manageable length, and food stations at both ends of the ballroom kept guests evenly dispersed. Drinks flowed smoothly, and by the end of the event only a few of the 12 stations had run dry.

A select group of VIP partygoers continued the revelry long into the night at the after-hours location, Urbana, one of the participating restaurants.

More>> Capital Comment Blog | News & Politics | Society Photos

Social Web
E-mail

| Washingtonian.com Blogs

Comments

I thought this event was fantastic; while many of the martinis were questionable in taste (I don’t recall much :) but I do recall the capri sun / slap in the face of rum), the event was very well put together, a ton of fun, and stunning aesthetically. The VIP section did get flooded, but this is D.C. kiddies, not Manhattan. And it’s an art benefit, not an opera.

I had a wonderful time, if anything Mclean & Washington, publicize this 10x next time.

Posted by: Arthur, Apr 01, 2009 06:56:30 PM

I appreciate your astute observation that yes, I was also on the host committee for this event. It does not prevent my independent journalistic observation of the event. If it had been a failure, I most certainly would have said so. Your comment about red wine may have been true - perhaps what I thought was red wine was actually the very dark beer, served in goblets.

Several event-goers (whom I interviewed at the event) commented on how fun the Bourbon cocktail was. Personally, I did not enjoy the Founding Farmers mojito - the flower petals, while pretty, kept getting caught in my straw and the entire drink had a bitter aftertaste. If it was a crowd favorite, it wasn’t one mentioned by the interviewees.

Additionally, if you have the intent to call an author of a piece out on what you see as unfair treatment of an event, at least have the decency to sign your name, rather than hiding behind the convenient anonymity of a posting board.

Sincerely,
McLean Robbins

PS, for the poster that wanted the Wisdom recipe - it’s listed below and was accidentally left off of the event writeup.

Erik Holzherr
Wisdom
Martini

1 oz Skyy Vodka
1.75 oz Qi Smoked Black Tea Liquor
1 oz Lillet White
1 oz Runny Honey
2 dashes of bitters
garnish: orange twist

Posted by: to Artini goer, Apr 01, 2009 06:50:35 PM

I was thrilled to see that Erik at Wisdom beat out the far more well known competition. I live near Wisdom. You get great cocktails and zero attitude.

Posted by: mjf32, Apr 01, 2009 09:23:57 AM

I attended and had a really great time - the DJ was amazing, and the drinks were all very different and interesting - some interesting good and some ’interesting’ not so good.

I agree with ’Artini goer’ - the Founding Farmers three mixologists were great fun, and very friendly and the drink was fantastic! NOT a martini - NOT a strange mix, but it really looked like the artwork and it was delicious, daisy petals and all! I swear i heard that Founding Farmers’ cocktail was the fan favorite- it was definitely hard to hear the announcements, but i know i heard the restaurant name mentioned.

Posted by: Silvie , Mar 30, 2009 08:06:57 PM

Sorry for all the repeated statements... this site kept showing errors whenever I tried to post :(

Posted by: Stefan, Mar 30, 2009 01:11:05 PM

Why not mention the ingredients of the winning drink from Wisdom? I am a scotch drinker and the smokiness of the drink was perfect for my tastes. It was a really fun event overall as was the after hours party.

Posted by: Stefan, Mar 30, 2009 01:09:59 PM

Posted by: Stefan, Mar 30, 2009 01:09:32 PM

Why didn’t you mention the ingredients of the winning drink from Wisdom? I’m s scotch drinker and the smokiness of the drink was perfect for my tastes. It was a really fun event overall as was the after hours party.

Posted by: Stefan, Mar 30, 2009 01:08:22 PM

There is more than one error in this report - shame on you McLean and the Washingtonian (which allowed McLean, one of the event’s "hosts", to write this). Beyond the fact that the Corcoran forbids red wine in the museum thus there wasn’t any red wine served, almost all of the liquor was gone by 10:30 and the VIP area was flooded by everyone, making all the beer and wine disappear by 11:15ish.

Don’t get me wrong, fun was had by all, but you need to have some "journalistic" integrity, even if this is an event roundup.

As for the best drinks of the night, how could you possibly include Bourbon’s Capri Sun disaster. Many people might have picked it up, but nobody finished it - it was terrible. And you really needed to include Founding Farmers’ pomegranate take on a mojito - by far the best drink of the night.

Posted by: Artini goer, Mar 30, 2009 10:26:53 AM

A Night Out: The Second Annual Artini Gala

Comments

Post a comment

A Night Out: Knock Out Abuse Gala

Three Quarterbacks Walk Into a Bar. . .