Atlanta Food & Wine Festival

Last Saturday Beverly and I went to the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival. We were absolutely GIDDY the days leading up to this event. We had won these VIP tickets at Brookhaven Sip and Stroll and we were counting down the minutes till the event. We literally did all things food and wine all.day.long.

We started the day in the Connoisseur's Lounge with breakfast and breakfast cocktails. It was an all things Arkansas breakfast buffet.. all the fancy poached eggs, and grit cakes, and potatoes you could imagine.



With our VIP pass, we were able to pick three learning experiences for the day. We received the tickets pretty close to the event, so unfortunately a lot of the good ones were already gone.



Our first one was another Arkansas inspired class called the "Arkansas Ham".. The butcher discussed the special breed of pig he had designed for the rugged area of the Ozarks. This particular ham had cured TWO YEARS and we were the first to try it!!

They also talked about pairings with different types of charcuterie. You normally think red wine, right?? Well the sommelier was actually noting that champagne is the best for a meat/cheese plate, because you have so many complex flavors. Never though of it like that, but totally makes sense!





The butcher also brought his bar manager with him. They discussed how they literally waste NOTHING. At Thanksgiving they will take the turkey bones and boil them down to broth, and then take those bones and infuse vodka and make a Thanksgiving cocktail, and then after that, they will use the bones as fire starter. Such a cool concept right??

In this demo, he infused the rum with leftover pineapple parts and made quite the stiff cocktail.



In between each learning experience, we had a 45 minute break. Thankfully we got to get comfy with champagne in the Connoisseur's Lounge on their plush couches and gorgeous views.



Next up on the list was Women Who Wine.. three leading ladies in the food and beverage industry talking about all things wine. One writes about wine for Forbes and owns a wine analytics company. I was totally texting AJ about it the whole time, ha! He would've loved her.



Anddd after a nice little rest and some pedialyte slushies (YES they had pedialyte slushy machines!!) .. we were off to the tasting tents! It rained cats and dogs the day before, but the thought did not even cross our mind that it would still be wet/muddy....

SO my Tory Burch sandals are pretty ruined, and my photography definitely slowed.. but here we go! HA! Just going to do a big dump of what I did capture :) 

I need a guy with an oyster shucking bucket belt at my next party...

I had the best time with this friend of mine! It wasn't exxxxactly how we had imagined the day, BUT we had so much fun together! By 9pm our bellies were stuffed and we were sooo ready for our bed (and a loonnggg hot shower)!!