Once again, we started our year of vacations with a trip down the road to San Antonio, to see what was new in the spirits world at the San Antonio Cocktail Conference.
This year, we returned to an old favorite hotel, staying at the Hyatt Regency San Antonio Riverwalk. You’ll remember we stayed at a suite in this property back in 2016, and chose to return for the convenience of the location.
This time, with a category upgrade thanks to my Hyatt Explorist status, we were given an Alamo-view Deluxe King Room. We had booked the room using 24,000 Hyatt points that I had earned through work trips to Las Vegas and the Hyatt-MLife points sharing agreement. Given that this category of room averages about $267/night for weekends, that meant I saved more than $500 by using points, and managed to earn a 2.2 cents-per-point value with my redemption.
The only downside about this redemption, however, is that this Hyatt Regency has done away with their Club Level. As a Hyatt Explorist member, I have 4 “upgrade” passes I can use to get free Club access, which comes with perks like free breakfast, free happy hour, and free bottled water and newspapers during your stay. But with Hyatt removing the “Club Level” from lots of older properties, I’ve so far found this status perk somewhat limited.
However, once we were all checked in to the hotel and unpacked, it was time to explore the Cocktail Conference itself. We started this conference as we always do, by getting the hubby a margarita the size of his head at Riverwalk staple, Rita’s on the River.
Rita’s also happens to be the venue for the annual “Kentucky Cantina” event, where one of our fave bartenders from Austin cocktail establishment Half Step mixes up surprising takes on classic cocktails, swapping out tequila for bourbons, and whiskeys for mezcals. Afterward, we wandered over to “Napoleon’s Apartment”, another sponsored event, this one highlighting classic spirits from France.
Finally, it was time for the evening’s signature event, Waldorf on the Prarie at the St. Anthony Hotel. While we’ve been to this same event multiple years, it’s always a good value for the ticket cost, and the entertainment this year was particularly good.
The next day was all about the Tasting Suites, which is generally our favorite event, because we get to try all kinds of new and new-to-us spirits. But this year the event seemed somewhat lackluster. Not only were there far fewer exhibitors overall than in previous years, but the exhibitors tended to be “big name” spirit companies: Patron, Grey Goose, even Dos Equis.
Because of the lack of new and noteworthy exhibitors it was also more difficult to discern the emerging themes in the industry. That being said, we saw a lot of Rock & Ryes this year, a new-ish spirit category of Rye whiskey blended with honey that’s very easy to drink. There were also several coffee-blended-liquor companies on display, though to me, none of them were a match to just Irish-ing up your own fresh brew. And finally, there was a strong showing from Genever spirits, a Dutch liquor looking to get a foothold on the US market with offerings like Bols Genever (a sweet-ish gin flavor profile), de Borgen (think light botanical whiskey flavors), and several others.
Since we weren’t particularly impressed with the Saturday night event last year, and this year’s event was in the same venue/with the same general structure, we decided to skip it in favor of the Sunday brunch. And that was a great choice, because the Sunday brunch was phenomenal: held at Bohanan’s bar and catered by Peggy’s (from Boerne, TX), the brunch served up treats like Chicken Fried Steak Eggs Hollandaise, on a bed of purple cheesy grits. The cocktails were classic recipes, and paired well with the inventive brunch offerings.
Overall, it was another fun year, though we think we might take a year or two off from this particular conference. At this point, and especially since the conference has grown, we’re not seeing enough variation from year to year to make it a must-attend annual event. However, it was still a lovely weekend away, and a nice way to start off our 2019 travels.
