Wed 10/18 – 7-9 PM – White sangria and the Songwriter Sessions returns with original songs performed by musicians: Jeff Benedict, David Hintz and Millie Palmer. Jeff Benedict is a multi-instrumentalist and award-winning songwriter who has laughed, cried, worried, shared, fought, hurt, and loved his way through a lifetime, inspiring him to write songs that look deeply into the experience of being human. Jeff performs regularly with the Americana band My New Favorites. David Hintz is a guitar playing singer-songwriter currently residing in Hendersonville, N.C. His music is thought-provoking and comes straight from the heart. A founding member of the Americana Community Music Association, he has performed as the headliner or the opening act many times at venues nationwide. Millie Palmer was born and raised in Asheville. She began singing and playing piano and guitar at a young age, and began playing professionally in her early teenage years. Since then, she has made a name for herself in Asheville and the surrounding areas as an expressive and distinctive vocalist, and an accomplished songwriter. Hosts are Mare Carmody and Charlie Wilkinson. For more info contact: WNCSongwriterSessions@gmail.com
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hurs 10/19 – 4-9 PM – Riffs on the Sidecar Cocktail – That classic and classy drink – the Sidecar – is a crowd pleaser that needs more exploration; like a great recipe everyone wants credit for, but nobody really knows where it came from. There are at least 3 conspiracy theories floating around this delightful drink as to who invented it and where it came from. (1) The Ritz Bar in Paris has always claimed it was created there when a soldier from World War I would always arrive early at the bar riding in the sidecar of a motorcycle. The soldier would ask for a nice glass of brandy, but it was frowned upon to drink it straight up at such an early hour. But the head bartender Frank Meier mixed it with curacao and lemon, served it with ice and from there on it was history. A sidecar purchased at the Ritz today will run around $1,500.00. (2) The recipe appeared in a book called The ABC’s of Mixing Cocktails by Harry MacElhone in 1922. Harry was an American bartender who ran for the hills after the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) was passed and was desperate to continue to hone his craft. He saw an opportunity at the confusingly named New York bar in Paris. It’s said that he claimed the ‘regular-in-a-sidecar’ story as well. (3) The Sidecar also appeared in another book called Cocktails and How to Mix Them by Robert Vermeier…also published in 1922. He also mentions something about a patron in a sidecar. (Sound familiar?). Both authors claim to have been the first to discover this recipe yet had both of their respective books published simultaneously. The recipes listed in the book were identical, with them both saying the recipe calls for equal amounts of cognac, lemon juice, and orange liqueur. All in all this was a marvelous combination of mixers with several variations appearing using similar ingredients. One of those riffs was the substitution of tequila for brandy and re-named “margarita.” Although tequila was first introduced at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 it suffered a setback during prohibition but when prohibition was lifted during the 1930s, bartenders found tequila a perfect fit using the sidecar’s recipe with its sweet-sour combination. Sidecar Riffs:Brandy Bar Sidecar – Cognac, Cointreau, lemon-lime sour mix; Biggles Sidecar – Cognac, ginger brandy, lemon juice, simple syrup; Gennaro’s Sidecar – Cognac, limoncello, lemon juice, bitters; Lady’s Sidecar – Cognac, lemon juice, orange juice, simple syrup; Biblical Sidecar – Cognac, muddled clove, Cointreau, ginger brandy, orange juice; 1/2 price Fruit/infused brandy flight