The Museum of the American Cocktail Presents Crafting the Cocktail: Handmade Objects and Implements for Classic and Modern Libations
Craft in America Center and The Museum of the American Cocktail (MOTAC) invite you to join the craft cocktail revolution in liquid style. Crafting the Cocktail, an exciting collaboration between two of the country’s leading craft institutions, is a landmark exhibition of one-of-a-kind, handmade barware that showcases innovative designs inspired by the ways in which we enjoy distilled spirits, both neat and well-mixed. The exhibit will be hosted at the Craft in America Center (8415 West Third Street, Los Angeles CA) from December 6, 2014 to February 21, 2015.
Each new wave of alcoholic beverages has arrived in tandem with art movements: ornate Victorian serving pieces are as much a testament to their era as mid-century modern minimalism to fanciful tiki items. Now a new era of mixology, introduced by the craft cocktail revolution of the last quarter century, has inspired a wave of sophisticated, elegant, thoughtful, and sometimes whimsical objects created to advance the craft of the cocktail and, indeed, revolutionize fine drinking.
Cocktails are inherently craft-centered: making a fine beverage requires an arsenal of tools, materials, and know-how. The process is as fundamental as the product. From the muddler to the strainer, the jigger to the shaker, the tools of the bartender’s trade are many and highly specialized. This exhibition will encompass the myriad items in the bartender’s toolkit, ranging from the miniscule to the sizeable, from the swizzle stick to the punchbowl, from the barstool to the liquor cabinet.
Barware, of course, exists not only for the maker but the drinker as well. Sipping from a sexy champagne coupe can heighten one’s sensation tenfold; so, too, can sitting at a sensuous barstool. Craftsmanship is inextricably linked to the quality of experience.
Used for serving, storage, and display, drinkware is a mainstay of craft history. The variety of forms marks our wide range of occasions: be it a nightcap or a champagne toast, the vessels from which we choose to drink have an impact, enhancing the experience, and even the ritual, of imbibing.
Accompanying the Crafting the Cocktail exhibition at the Craft in America Center will be a full schedule of gallery talks by artists and seminars led by industry experts in the forefront of the craft cocktail revolution, among them master bartenders and drink historians, and presented in some of Greater Los Angeles’s more exclusive and storied watering holes.
PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 5:00-7:00pm
Opening Reception
Craft in America Center
8415 W. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90048
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 6:30-8:30pm
Touring the Cocktail: MOTAC Los Angeles
A History of Drinking (Abridged)
Liz Williams, President, SoFAB Institute and Managing Director, MOTAC
The Ace Hotel Upstairs Rooftop Lounge
929 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Admission: $40 in advance/$35 for SoFAB-MOTAC, USBG, and Craft in America members/$50 at the door (http://www.cocktailmuseum.org/events-and-seminars)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 7:00pm
Cocktails: The History of Choice
Richard Foss, Food & Drink Historian and California Curator, MOTAC
Craft in America Center
8415 W. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90048
Admission: FREE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 6:30-8:30pm
Touring the Cocktail: MOTAC Los Angeles
[Title TBA]Rob Floyd, Founder & CEO, rxliquidchef.com and National Director of Mixology, Ozumo Concepts International, LLC
41 Ocean
1541 Ocean Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Admission: $40 in advance/$35 for SoFAB-MOTAC, USBG, and Craft in America members/$50 at the door (http://www.cocktailmuseum.org/events-and-seminars)
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 7:00pm
The Ritual and Craft of the Cocktail
Joe Keeper, Owner, Bar Keeper & Marcos Tello, Owner, Tello/Demarest Liquid Assets
Craft in America Center
8415 W. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90048
Admission: FREE
FEBRUARY 2015
Touring the Cocktail: MOTAC Los Angeles
[Details TBA]FEBRUARY 2015
[Title TBA]Brandyn Tepper, Head Mixologist, Hinoki & the Bird
Craft in America Center
8415 W. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90048
Admission: FREE
