LOVE OF LIBATIONS AT MOANA SURFRIDER

Reid and I attended the first ‘Love of Libations‘ event last weekend. Love of Libations is a mixology event celebrating all things beverage and entertainment related which will be held every month at the Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa in Waikiki.

As soon as we arrived, we checked in with the host and we were given a welcome drink. It was our first time drinking ginger beer mixed with pineapple and mint, interesting mix – Reid loved it! It tasted almost like a sweet alcoholic soda. The salt really tops off the drink. With a delicious welcome drink, it was already starting off great!

After getting our welcome beverage.. The hosts, Micah Suderman and Chandra Lucariello from Southern Wine & Spirits, showed us some tips on how to mix drinks. After all, it is a mixology event. Tips including what flavors compliment each other and how much of each ingredient is recommended.

While learning about mixology, they had appetizers going around for us to taste. Nice little starters while sipping on our refreshing drinks.

We were then broken up into teams (there were 4 teams total), and had to come up with a team name. We chose to be called “Team Winners”. Each team had to make their own cocktail or alcoholic beverage and compete with others for a prize. We’ve never been to an event where you make your own drink so this was a lot of fun! After thinking of a team name, we all headed to the area with the ingredients to get our concoction under way! Our team had great chemistry right off the bat and we all helped each other with ideas and tips on how to make the best drinks (one of our teammates was actually a former bar tender and the other was an executive chef at a restaurant, so they knew what they were doing; it was more of a lesson for us.)

While looking at all of the ingredients, we agreed on what type of drink we were trying to go for. Lots of choices! At this point, the teams are walking around getting their own spices, fruits, and beer for their special drink.

Our choice was to combine the taste of bland cucumbers to level out the sharp flavor of blueberries and mint.

Reid was the one mixing everything and making our delicious drink – with the help of our knowledgeable teammates!

After mixing everything, we had our drink “Blueberry Surprise”. Nice and light, very different from any alcohol we’ve tasted before. Our drink consisted of: blueberries, pineapple mix, cucumbers, mint, and in one sample, we added ginger beer.

Despite losing, it was an amazing interaction and learning event at Vintage 1901 which is a wine-centric lounge at Moana Surfrider. Definitely a fun night and we recommend attending at least one event. The next event is their biggest one of all as it’s the 115th birthday of Moana Surfrider hotel. Part of the proceeds of this event will benefit the Life Foundation. Please see the flyer on the bottom for more information; hope to see more of you at the next one!

Check out Love of Libations next event on Facebook.
Purchase tickets for the event, here. ($75 per person | 21 and over)

Beachhouse at Moana Surfrider
2365 Kalakaua Ave.
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815