Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur Takes Over U.S. With 2nd Annual Espresso Martini Fest
From October 9th-15th, Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur hosted their 2nd Annual Espresso Martini Fest in 14 cities and 240 bars across the country. NYC was considered one of the hubs and had special events for espresso martini aficionados that enveloped the city in a caffeinated haze. One of which was an espresso martini masterclass hosted at mixology bar, Death & Co. The instructors for the course was cocktail royalty, Bea Bradsell, daughter of Espresso Martini creator, Dick Bradsell and Mr, Black US Brand Ambassador Stephen Kurpinsky.
Bradsell took the crowd through the origin of the espresso martini (a model asking for something to wake her up and a happy accident of coffee grinds and vodka), and the history of the London bar scene at that time. The original recipe is quite different from what we expect today. It was on ice, was comprised of vodka, sugar syrup, Kahlua and strong espresso that was strained into a rocks glass.
After the introduction, guests were then invited to learn how to make cocktails of their own and received recipe books to make the concoctions at home.
Later in the week, Mr. Black introduced the Mr. Black Espresso Martini House, a pop-up in the West Village that gave old school Mad Men vibes upon walking into the space. The event hosted 4 of Mr. Black’s favorite bars with their own spin on the espresso martini including The Sylvester from Miami, FL, True Laurel from San Francisco, CA, and NYC native bars Dante’s and Milady’s.
Much like earlier in the week, Kurpinsky hosted another espresso martini masterclass for fans of the brand. As an onsite activity, attendees could get personalized Mr Black merch with branded patches from Unemployed Denim or custom embroidery from Apparel NYC. And for the entertainment portion of the evening, NYC faves DJ Mick and High & Mighty Brass Band brought the music. Upstairs a speakeasy was decked out to be the personification of Mr. Black, complete with a terrace, for VIPs.
It was a great week of buzzy craft cocktails prepared by the experts, showing just why the espresso martini is the star of the show. For more information and to attend next year, please visit https://www.mrblack.co/us/espresso-martini-fest.
Photos courtesy of Angela Pham and Stephanie Carino
