First Sip: Restaurant Week for drink makers

First Sip, a restaurant week-like event for mixologists and other beverage purveyors, is coming to Boulder April 28 to May 1. You may have noticed all of the social media chatter and advertising about it. There are classes, tastings and events that, together, are designed to introduce area residents to new drinks, expand their knowledge of what might be in their glass, expose them to delightful and challenging food-beverage pairings, or all of the above.

A Niwot restaurant has fully embraced the weekend. Cottonwood Square’s Farow is planning for a few ways to host eager imbibers over the weekend and the relatively newly opened eatery is excited about what they’ll be offering.

“We have a knowledgeable staff in our beverage program and jumped at the chance to be part of First Sip,” Said Farow’s co-owner and pastry chef Lisa Balcom. She shared that they are taking the event as a chance to highlight some of their most interesting wines and noted that her husband, chef and co-owner Patrick Balcom, is carefully curating cheese and charcuterie plates, featuring robiola cheese, a terrine, specialty whole grain mustard to highlight these drinks.

The restaurant is also creating a specialty cocktail that will remind imbibers of both an old fashioned and a Martini, at the same time. Farow’s bar staff named it Martin from Michigan. It’s made up of gin, two types of sweet vermouth, aquavit, grenadine liqueur and bitters.

A pre-event, advance tasting of the beverage revealed some of what it had to offer. The cocktail was smooth as the gin played well with sweeter elements. Flavors played well with each other in the glass, nothing was too alcohol-loaded or too sweet. It was sophisticated, lighter than expected, and lovely.

It’s worth the time to stop by and take part in Niwot’s piece of this regional event. Doing so supports both Niwot dining and the larger Boulder-based effort to bring new experiences to food lovers. By the weekend’s conclusion, Farow’s participation may even do more than simply allow the larger community to get to know the restaurant. It could help food lovers from Boulder County and beyond realize all that Niwot has to offer.

In the end, the weekend event should give Farow – and other Niwot businesses that may benefit from visibility by out of town guests – a reason to smile.