Edibles' Good Spirits Bash, 2012

I had to pace myself at Edible (Magazine)'s annual Good Spirits' Bash on Mercer Street on Tuesday evening. Two vast rooms. Table after table of artisanal (that is, human scale) brews and taste after taste of beautiful and surprising - a rare combination - tidbits.

Armed with forks acquired at the door, wrist-ringed with blue hospital bands marking us as Those Who Belonged Within,  we traveled from hand sliced ham from Salumeria Rosi's rosy pig leg, to Whitehall's just-set savoury panna cotta topped with raw tuna, to morsels of slow cooked pork ribs with sweet pickles, to pork shoulder shredded in a broth rich with anise and rutabaga (yes, that can be a good thing), to Veselka's melting pierogis, to an unlikely ceviche of duck - the Frenchman might have returned four times for another sliver, to fresh oysters to...

...to Hendrick's gin cocktails mixed with blood orange juice: Hm, tastes like Kool-Aid, murmured Vince speculatively (OK, moving along), to Eden's ice ciders - vibrant and snappily dry (one of my top two tastes of the night - brewed in Vermont and flavoured with understated basil, or sold in slim bottles and sweet as a dessert wine), to Crop Vodka's cucumberish coldness, to the Brooklyn Gin punch bowl. Where I could have stayed all night. And to whose cool depths I may have returned four times. Well, three. Maybe. And it's not even made in Brooklyn. Do I care? Hell, no! It is stunning. And their punch just charmed the entertainer in me. A circle of melting lemon ice infused with all its herbs and spices - nine of which I have forgotten, bar orris root and angelica.

There was a lot we did not drink, but we have no regrets. Only very fond memories. It was a helluva shindig and beautifully done. Thanks, Edible (and thanks Ed.).