The NCAA picked their champion b-ball team last night (congrats, Louisville), but today is when we reveal the most important bracket results: The cocktails at the W’s Cook Hall. We started with a Sweet Sixteen, whittled it down to an Elite Eight and now stand at a Final Four. Well, here we go: The finals!
In the Battle of the Ampersands — the Dark & Stormy versus the Gin & Sin — it was sweet rum against a surprisingly fruit gin concoction. Even I was surprised that my best pal gin couldn’t stand up to the complex delights of rum. The D&S enters the final as the longshot.
Longshot, because if there’s one thing I like more than gin, it’s bourbon, so despite the unexpected strength showed by the beery Shandy, the Mint Julep goes into the last round as the favorite.
But nothing’s for sure. I tasted and retasted the Dark & Stormy and the Julep as Cook Hall’s mixologists plotted it. The Julep had heart, the Julep had the hometown advantage … but the D&S had the points. It’s the Dark & Stormy at the buzzer!
And that’s my top cocktail at Cook Hall.
