May Day wasn't just about protests. Because New York contains multitudes, there were a number of other events going on yesterday, at least one of which involved drinking dozens of decadent fancy cocktails in the Bowery Hotel. After all, May is one of the big months for food and drink events in the Big Apple.
Last night's boozefest at the Bowery was the annual kick-off for the almost-completely sold-out annual Luckyrice Festival, and the cocktail party was as packed with pretty foodiots as you might expect/hope/dread. For the curious, the fest already has a post up on their site showing all the fare on hand, along with some interviews with the mixologists and chefs who participated in the evening. One thing they all have in common? Crazy nights out drinking in Asia. Judging by last night's beverages, this left many of them with a thirst for too-precious-by-half cocktail. If you paid your $58 expecting you'd at least be able to get a basic cocktail, you were shit out of luckyrice. Some of the more ambitious drinks were quite tasty—and almost all were made with Bombay Sapphire, which we like—but sometimes you want something a little less cloyingly sweet.
Bummed you missed out on drinking while Rome burned last night? You've still got time. This year's remaining Luckyrice events are all-but sold out except for VIP tickets, another big drinking series kicks off next week. The Manhattan Cocktail Classic, which promises to be as drunken as you might hope. Though better-than-it-should be kick-off gala at the NYPL is sold out (seriously, it's like a black tie prom for drunks) there are still a number of events with tickets still available. A Saturday afternoon "Gentleman's Cocktail Crawl," anyone?
And that's not all! Later this month the new, and slightly controversial, Great Googa Mooga festival will go down in Prospect Park on May 19th and 20th. So, if you want to chow down and get drunk with large groups of people, clearly this is your month. And the month after that and the month after that, most likely.
