Prepare to sip, taste and imbibe your heart out, folks! Thirst Boston is returning to the Hub this weekend and along with it, plenty of grandiose parties, pop-ups, tastings and seminars all centered around one thing, and one thing only, and that’s cocktailing.
Bartenders, distillers and industry leaders from across the city – and the country – will be showcasing their skills at the second annual cocktail festival. Here, Andrew Deitz, co-founder of Thirst Boston, tells us what makes the weekend long event so successful.
Why did you decide to launch Thirst Boston in the first place?
We saw all these other great cities doing their own types of events and festivals, and we felt Boston was deserving of their own forum to celebrate our beverage industry given the quality of our professionals and restaurant and bar outlets.
What differences can we expect from last year’s Thirst Boston event?
We have a few new events including State Lines, a Portland/Providence popup celebrating what we believe are the top four cocktail bars in each city, giving our attendees an opportunity to experience how great industries are in our neighborhoods North and South of Boston.
Additionally, we created a tasting room type event called the New England Craft Showcase which celebrates all of our local distilleries and brewers in RI, MA, CT, ME, and VT. It’s all about local flavor.
Lastly, we added another evening event called Roadhouse which is really about bringing it back to the fun of going out to our favorite bars in our hometown. We’ve created our own dive bar in a loft space down near the design center where we have Tigerman WHOA performing.
Are there any mixologists or cocktails you’d like to highlight at this year’s event?
There are too many great friends, mentors, and talent to highlight anyone individually, but I will say that as a strong supporter of the daiquiri, there will be plenty of DTOs to go around.
Are all of the bartenders and distillers at Thirst Boston from the area or is there a good mix of out-of-town folks as well?
The focus is still largely on our homegrown talent, although there are educators and friends from across the United States and really the world that we find beneficial to bring here to help educate our local industry. It’s a group of people whose knowledge we feel is invaluable, so we wanted to invite them to participate from different parts of the world.
Which Thirst Boston events do you particularly recommend and enjoy?
I like them all – they’re all diverse and different. But for me, I’m an old soul, so The Thing has always been my baby. It’s in its third year now and has always been done in a grand old Boston space. This year, The Thing will be at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel. To me, it’s the party of the year.
Check here for tickets (going fast!) and information, and take a look at last year’s Thirst Boston in the photos below.
Photo Credit: Mike Diskin
