Taste of Pasadena is Sept. 13
Thirty-two cocktails enter the SIP-tember Cocktail Bracket Challenge. Only one will be named Pasadena’s Cocktail of the Year 2018.
Drinks being offered for the SIP-tember Cocktail Bracket Challenge include special margaritas, new interpretations of traditional cocktails, and some specially created drinks from some of Pasadena’s premiere mixologists. New participants this year include Mi Piace and Ichi Gyo Ichi Et in Old Pasadena, Roy’s Hawaiian, Trejo’s Cantina, and The Mixx in the Playhouse District and Foothill in East Pasadena. We are very pleased to welcome the Otis Bar at La Grande Orange Cafe back to competition along with local favorites White Horse Lounge, Bistro 45, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar, The Taproom at the Langham Huntington Hotel, El Cholo, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Vertical Wine Bistro, True Food Kitchen, Lucky Baldwin’s Trappiste Pub, and Del Frisco’s Grille.
Drinks are randomly entered in a head-to-head bracket challenge. Voting in the first three rounds is done online at pasadenarestaurantweek.com and will be live on Aug. 1.
Drinks named Pasadena’s Favorite Cocktail include the Broad Street Hurricane from Ruth’s Chris Steak House, the Cucumber Skinny-tini from Toro Sushi, the Vin de Pomplemousse from Green Street Restaurant or White Horse Lounge’s 2016 Forbidden, Ruth’s Chris’ Julio’s Passion and The Ish from Sushi Roku.
White Horse Lounge (41 S. De Lacey Ave.) kicks off SIP-tember with a special mixology demonstration and cocktail tasting on July 31 at 6:30 p.m. This free event can only accommodate 100 people. To register for the SIP-tember Cocktail Kick-off at White Horse Lounge, you must reserve through EventBrite.
SIP-tember: A Celebration of the Cocktail culminates in a grand taste-off at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Sept. 13. Everyone (21-years-old or older) attending the Taste of Pasadena that evening will be able to taste the four finalist cocktails and vote for their favorite.
In 2017, more than four hundred people were on hand for the finale of the SIP-tember Cocktail Bracket Challenge. In addition to the four featured cocktail finalists, guests at the SIP-tember Bracket Challenge Finale tasted culinary treats from El Cholo, Sushi Roku, California Pizza Kitchen, POP Champagne and Dessert Bar, Du-par’s, Simply Cupcakes and many more.
The Sip-tember Cocktail Bracket Challenge Grand Finale is presented by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce as a Pasadena Restaurant Week event sponsored by The City of Pasadena, Wells Fargo, the Sierra Family of Dealerships, and the Rose Bowl.
