Jacob Tyler Dunn
Audio By Carbonatix
This weekend’s metro Phoenix food and drink events strike an unusual chord. Get ready to celebrate all things garlic or glass etching. Learn about bourbon, or sip on mezcal at our drink-focused happenings.
Here are five events taking place in downtown Phoenix, Queen Creek, and Scottsdale this weekend, September 16 through 18.
Glass Etching and Wine Tasting
Friday, September 16
Found:RE Contemporary
1100 North Central Avenue
602-875-8000 Found:RE Contemporary art gallery is hosting a night of glass etching and wine tasting led by guest artist Cundiff Crafts and Creations. Choose between two or four wine or pint glasses and a variety of designs. There will also be a wine tasting and food and beverages available from Match Market & Bar. Show your ticket to receive 15 percent off your purchase.
Queen Creek Olive Mill olive oil.
Tom Carlson
Garlic Fest
Friday, September 16 to Sunday, September 25
Queen Creek Olive Mill
25062 South Meridian Road, Queen Creek
480-888-9290 The ninth annual Garlic Fest is back at Queen Creek Olive Mill, lasting just over a week. Watch cooking demos, play games in the grove, purchase garlic products and accessories, and more. Del Piero Kitchen will have a daily garlic-inspired menu plus the beer and wine garden will be open on the weekend. The event is free to attend with no reservations required.
Spirited Sipping Seminar
Saturday, September 17
Hearth ’61 at Mountain Shadows
5445 East Lincoln Drive, Scottsdale
480-624-5458 Learn all about bourbon during this history lesson and tasting, paired with a light nosh at Hearth ’61 at Mountain Shadows. Space is limited to 20 guests, with a maximum party size of eight. Tickets cost $39.
Sip on mezcal at Found:RE Phoenix’s pairing dinner.
Found:RE Hotel
Four-Course Mezcal Pairing Dinner
Saturday, September 17
Match Market and Bar at Found:RE Phoenix
602-875-8000 Found:RE Phoenix and Compa Spirits are teaming up for a four-course mezcal pairing dinner, with dishes prepared by executive chef Shane Jackson with tastings from Erstwhile Mezcal, a woman-led socially conscious distillery. Examples of courses include a fresh corn porridge with a mezcal-cured quail egg, wild mushrooms, agave roasted peppers, and chapulines, and lamb shank barbacoa with habanero, clove, gremolata, and sour orange. The event costs $159 per person, plus tax and gratuity.
Mexico in a Bottle is the largest tasting event for mezcal and craft spirits in the nation.
Gabriel Carbajal
Mexico in a Bottle
Sunday, September 18
Walter Studios
747 West Roosevelt Street Love the taste of agave? Then Mexico in a Bottle is right up your alley. More than 40 brands will share over 150 elixirs, including brands like Del Maguey, Wahaka, and Fidencio. There are also special programs of ‘Art & Vida’ by Del Maguey and a ‘Mexican Pop Up Bar’ with Illegal Mezcal.
“We are very excited to bring Mexico in a Bottle to Phoenix. There has been an upsurge of interest in mezcal over the past year and we feel it is the perfect time for a full-scale celebration of mezcal and the opportunity for people to sample and learn about the breadth of mezcal culture directly from brands and producers,” says Susan Coss, co-founder of Mezcalistas and Mexico in a Bottle. With Mexico in a Bottle, Cross hopes to raise awareness about mezcal, and Phoenix is the perfect place to do it.
“Arizona is a unique place for this event, given the history, geography, and culture it shares with Mexico and specifically the Sonoran desert which is home to native agave and agave spirits production,” she says.