Vibe Check: Shaken & Stirred
Vibe Check: Shaken & Stirred
Proof that there are literally no laws when you're drinking Claws. PLUS: our first "from the mag," a save-the-date and Triple Crown tidbits.
The bartenders at Thursday’s Shaken & Stirred celebrity bartender event may not have known much about making drinks, but they sure knew how to make a buck. “Oh my god, they’re just learning now how to fill a cup with ice?!” emcee Chris Onorato said as the Micropolitan Matchmakers and Sotheby’s Realty teams took to the two bars on the Prime patio. “This could be a long night.”
Indeed, I had one encounter with a Sotheby’s bartender that involved her asking three times if I wanted my vodka soda made with “club,” and her producing a pair of Whiteclaws when I asked for a Michelob and a Corona. But what she lacked in bartending skills, she made up for in other ways: When I handed her a crisp Benjamin she asked if she could keep the change, and the woman standing next to me yelled “yeah!” I only narrowly rescued the remaining $60 I had for the evening. “I tried,” the woman said.
For those who don’t remember Shaken & Stirred from the pre-Covid era, it’s a benefit for Universal Preservation Hall that pits eight teams from local businesses against one another in a battle for the most bartending tips. Each team gets exactly half an hour to work the bar, utilizing creative tactics to drum up more business. Early in the evening, a Hawaiian shirt–clad Carmine DeCrescente (temporarily) tattooed a QR code onto his neck that people could scan to donate on the DeCrescente Distributing team’s behalf; later in the evening, he hopped up on the bar for a dance battle with a shirtless cowboy from the Bonacio Construction team.
Bonacio and DeCrescente ended up raising the most money for UPH’s family and children’s programs (they had the coveted last half-hour slot of the night, when—the now tipsy—attendees were at their most generous). But that didn’t stop the other teams from putting in a valiant fundraising effort, including walking around hawking syringes filled with an alcohol no one seemed able to identify. “Are we getting shots?” my friend Sam asked two women from the Mohawk Auto Group team after putting $5 in their tip jar. “Not for $5!” one of them replied. (I have to admit I did get a free syringe shot later in the evening, once all law and order had fallen to the wayside.)
Another tipsier member of the Mohawk team seemed more concerned with getting us to drink than getting us to give money—she (inexplicably) placed a cup of the mystery liquor on the ground and had us squat down in a circle to share the beverage. “My actual name tonight is Elizabeth because I’m a Gemini,” she told me matter of factly. “It’s my middle name. I can blame everything on her.”
Luckily, she wasn’t the only attendee who let the free-flowing booze get to her—I witnessed one woman ask a bartender if he brushed his chest hair, and another ask her friend to get her a “Ketel and One.”
As the light dimmed and the crowd congregated under Prime’s covered bar area, I ran into Buttonista Taylor Rao, a Shaken & Stirred first-timer who summed up the evening’s shenanigans perfectly: “I had no idea how crazy this was.”
—Natalie
Quote of the Week
“The only time I drink 5-Hour Energy is when I’m out in Saratoga or go-karting.”
—Overheard on East Avenue
From the Mag
Did you know that all the content from the print edition of Saratoga Living is published on saratogaliving.com? Check out these feature stories now:
Inside the Wilton Home Featured in a Coffee Table Book on Country Living
Designer Kathleen Rourke Gears up for Her Second Saratoga Summer
A Historic Chicken Coop Becomes a Modern Marvel
Speaking of the print magazine, our summer issue comes out Monday! Become a paying subscriber to get a sneak peak at the cover and a behind-the-scenes look at what went into the edition tomorrow.
Save the Date
Celebrate Memorial Day at Hattie’s 16th annual Crawfish Festival! Southern food, live music and good times await.
Make Your (NYRA) Bets
You don’t have to be one of the 500+ horse racing super-fans who crowded into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame to watch the Derby live on the big screen to get pumped for tomorrow’s Preakness Stakes. Will Mage win again? Tune in tomorrow evening to watch it all go down at Pimlico. And in other Triple Crown news…retired Saratoga announcer Tom Durkin confirmed this week that he’ll be calling the Belmont Stakes. To see the legendary caller’s return to the booth, flip on your TV June 10.
This Week in Saratoga Living After Hours
In case you missed it, on Wednesday, we published a story called Saratoga’s Men and Where to Find Them that called out 10 local guys for always being in the same Saratoga establishments at the same time. We caught up with a few of them after their moment in the spotlight to see how their newfound fame is treating them.
“Now I am not a bum on the Caroline Street any more.” —Josh Feng
Aside from “getting sh**” from the employees and regulars at DA’s, Steve Struss now has some 40 new Instagram followers.
Justin Metzger had a similar experience, calling the article a “dating advertisement.”
“I don’t know if I should be proud or ashamed.” —Ryan Mortka’s father