My $10 mezze plater from Hamlet & Ghost was a high point of the inaugural Eat Drink Saratoga.
The weather did not do this past weekend’s Eat Drink Saratoga festival any favors. There was an excessive heat advisory for June 30, meaning don’t go outside if you don’t have to. But those who ignored this advice and slathered on the sunscreen had a fine time, with uncrowded access to the beverage vendors and food booths.
David Rose and his Sagamore Ryes
As I predicted, several of the less familiar beverage purveyors were there because of their relationship with sponsoring restaurant Hamlet & Ghost. I spent quality time with David Rose of Sagamore Spirit Rye, which is a Maryland product in spite of the New York-sounding name. (He says Sagamore simply means “chief of chiefs” in Abenaki.) Maryland rye is a thing, it turns out, sweeter and more drinkable than the ryes we normally encounter. My favorite was the cask strength, which didn’t taste strong at all: dangerous, especially on a hot afternoon.
Lisa Beth Elovitch shows pff One Life Tequila.
I also tasted and liked One with Life (OWL) tequila, a product made with organic agave. I had not understood that pesticides are used on agave plants to control those little worms that end up in the mezcal bottles; founder Lisa Beth Elovich told me they trap the bugs instead (didn’t ask her where they go after). This is a smooth yet complex product and at around $38 a bottle is a premium tequila without very high price tags for artisanal stuff. For Saratoga locals, it and the Sagamore Rye can be found at Purdy’s Liquors.
Also of note: Minogue, a local beer store, has gone into the craft brewing business and poured a pretty good double IPA. (Their single IPA was a little malty for me.) And St. Lawrence Distillery was sampling a pretty mean absinthe with the bonus insight that the wormwood in the original banned product never did make people crazy; it was all a conspiracy by the Champagne industry.
Pork ribs with Korean sauce from 2 West.
As to the food, I did not go hungry. I was very happy with my $10 mezze platter from Hamlet and Ghost. Falafel and pea shoot hummus, roasted lamb with sauce, quinoa pilaf, a second hummus with pita for dipping filled me up very nicely. Best value was a $5 tray of Korean-seasoned pork ribs from 2 West, reminding me to give this local place another try. (I had stopped going when they took the lamb tartare off the menu.) A $10 dish of pulled pork with peppers from Prime and $5 helpings of oysters from 30 Lake (3 of them with good cocktail sauce and mignonette) and a slab of candied bacon from Salt & Char completed my dance card. Tips for future food booth operators: put out a sample plate showing what the festival goer gets for their token.
Late in the day, as things finally started to cool down, a lot of the vendors took advantage of the lighter traffic to hang out in each others’ booths. I am sure if you will ask them they had a great time and will be eager to return. Hopefully that bonhomie will carry over to a future Eat Drink Saratoga event, and I will keep fingers crossed for more favorable weather next time. For those who went, this was a hit and an event we’d like to see in our local festival rotation.
