Artini Mixes Up Cocktails and Art

Tough job: Gina Chersevani and I slurp down an excellent creation from Alex Bookless of The Passenger as judges for the Corcoran's Artini bash.

Photo by Daniel Swartz for Revamp.com

Channeling a work of art into a cocktail creation is no easy feat, but 11 DC mixologists made it look quite natural at Saturday night's Artini, the annual party hosted by the Corcoran Gallery of Art's 1869 Society.

I had the oh-so-difficult task of judging each drink (actually, it was pretty dang hard considering how talented the field was) as part of the critics panel, along with "mixtress" Gina Chersevani, former Artini competitor Jason Strich, Corcoran director of community engagement Melissa Green, and Sophie Gilbert, assistant editor of Washingtonian.

After some booze-fueled debate, we chose Joe Ambrose from W hotel's P.O.V as the Critics’ Choice winner. His cocktail "Theo’s Flower" beautifully evoked Terry Winters’ Theophrastus Garden 2 with a candied pansy atop a mix of 42 Below vodka, gin, elderflower liqueur, brown simple syrup, moro orange juice, bitters and lemon foam.

Art & Soul's Ronald Flores took home the people's choice award for a rooibos tea-infused rum cocktail.

For more photos, check out Revamp.com.