A festival in the blooming coastal cocktail community

SAN DIEGO, CA – San Diego has been making a pronounced stride in their progression through the cocktail business in its most recent five years, which is earning itself the ability to step outside the shadows of California’s San Francisco and Los Angeles markets. Among the most accredited recognitions in the last year, Camper English of Alcademics and diffordsguide has described San Diego’s cocktail scene as a late starter that “seems to have reached the critical mass of good (and very stylish) bars that drive the scene forward… the picturesque city is already well-known for its great local beers and breweries, but now its cocktails are catching up”. No stranger to the growth of San Diego’s cocktail community is Liz Edwards and her team behind the San Diego Spirits Festival, which will enter its fifth year since 2009 on August 24-25.

Noticeably approached as a consumer event, headlining opener to the festival is Motley Crue front man Vince Neil, who will also be showcasing the line of Tatuado spirits that he bottles in Las Vegas. Reaching high volumes of attendees, the festival does give the cocktail community an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of an audience that is in support of San Diego alcohology. The two-day celebration will host the winning announcements of the first San Diego International Spirits Competition, a blind taste judging conducted by cocktail writer, Lance Mayhew and spirits journalist and educator, Skip Raddle.

For the cocktail scene, it would not be a mistake to stop by the pavilion, where a handful of talented professionals from the area will be showcasing their work with spirits, and at a local competition called Cocktail Wars. Work up the appetite and head to the pavilion view court on the back pier, where guests will be able to capture the San Diego culinary scene with a selection of chef presentations and restaurants from the area. The Bayside Art Festival will also be in full swing at the court entrance, where visitors can soak up a little culture between food and drinks. The San Diego Spirits Festival is shaping up to be an exciting experience for the community and will continue to maintain the forward progress in San Diego’s cocktail culture. Industry Denver, like at Tales of the Cocktail, is looking forward to stepping outside our local borders next weekend to take in the thrill of a growing cocktail and spirits community.

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