Thursday was a crazy day! There was all sorts of drama and I even ended up doing a Style Up Challenge for
PedestrianTV during the day (will blog that soon).
At night, I was invited to a lovely intimate
Stoli Vodka event for bloggers no more than 20 people. They introduced
Stoli (Stolichnaya) Vodka, which is celebrated as the original vodka.
Stoli Vodka conducted a nation search for the most original bartender to win the title of the first ever "Original" bartender.
Luke Ashton, was the winner and is one of the hottest new bartenders on the block, ditching his 6 year corporate career to bartend professionally. He is now the manager at
Duke Bistro with his unique cocktail menu and done the rounds with his skills at the
Ivy Pool Club,
Uccello,
thecornerhouse and more!
On the night, Luke mixed cocktails live and presented us with a menu of
The Tsarina - one of my favourites, with Stoli Razberi, Mandarin Napoleon, Luxardo, peach bitters, lemon juice and pink grapefruit juice) The other ones included the
Spiced Rhubarb and the
Dirty Martini with smoked olives steeped in Stoli Vodka.
That wasn't all, we had Stoli Vodka infused canapés prepared exclusively live by
Chef Matty Bee! There were
Bloody Mary Oyster Shots,
Rare seared tuna with Stoli Vodka infused black bean and ginger dressing,
Blue cheese balls in walnut dust with Stoli Vodka macerated Cherry tomato,
Szechuan salt and pepper chicken wings and
Torched marshmallow skewers with melted
chilli Stoli Vodka chocolate with macaroons (blueberry was the best)!
You must follow Matty Bee's food adventures on
twitter and
blog, as he moves to New York City!
Stoli also rewarded the genuine originality of Australians with the 2011 Stoli Orginal Fund, to help them launch whatever their dreams were and turn them into reality!
Check out
www.facebook.com/stolivodkaaustralia