Texas Cocktail Week Has Returned, With Four Seasons at the Center of the Party
Four Seasons Houston is awash in world-class cocktails all week.
By Jeff Gremillion
Texas Cocktail Week is back in Houston this week, and Four Seasons Hotel Houston is once again HQ. The host hotel of the second annual celebration, presented by Michter’s, the property is filling Sept. 20-24 with guest shifts, pop-ups and late-night last calls at Bayou & Bottle and Bandista.
Programming is open to the public, and beverage manager Johnathan Jones and both bar teams will stay open until midnight each night, giving visiting bartenders and local regulars a place to land after the official events wrap.
“We’re so happy to welcome back Texas Cocktail Week,” says General Manager Tom Segesta. “This incredible celebration of connection and cocktails is what great bars are all about.”
The week opens tonight, Sunday, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Bayou & Bottle with a drop-in party that pulls in some of the state’s best-known bars: Austin’s The Roosevelt Room and Bar Fino & Bar Hacienda, Dallas’ Bar Collette, and San Antonio’s Sternewirth and Mixtli. Florence’s Locale Firenze, ranked No. 22 on the World’s 50 Best Bars list, joins the lineup, with live country DJ sets from Lindsay Rae of Two Headed Dog and light bites built around Houston’s mix of flavors. Bandista, ranked the No. 1 bar in Texas and among North America’s 50 Best Bars, will pop up during the party with one of its signature drinks.
Monday turns more formal. Punch Room Tampa brings its tableside punch service to Bayou & Bottle from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., with beverage director Nihat Cam walking guests through how punch became the modern cocktail. Reservations are in one-hour seatings. Across the hotel, Vancouver’s Botanist Bar takes over Bandista from 7 to 10 p.m., with beverage director Grant Sceney and head bartender Justin Powell pouring five signatures, including the Botanist Martini and the Raincouver. Botanist has landed on the North America’s 50 Best Bars list four years running.
Tuesday belongs to two very different guests. Bartending veteran Toby Maloney holds a drop-in happy hour at Bayou & Bottle from 5 to 8 p.m., pouring classics and signing copies of his book with Emma Janzen, “The Classic Cocktail Sessions.” Later, Nassau’s Bon Vivants — another North America’s 50 Best Bars name — moves behind Bandista’s bookcase from 7 to 10 p.m., with Niko Imbert and Devante Knowles pouring four island-leaning signatures.
Wednesday and Thursday stay at Bandista. Milan’s Moebius, No. 7 on the World’s 50 Best Bars list and a Michelin-starred room, arrives Wednesday from 7 to 10 p.m. with owner Lorenzo Querci and head bartender Alessandro Merlini, including the bar’s popular Pesto Martini. Thursday, Valentino Longo of ViceVersa and ViceVersa, A Fort Lauderdale Residency closes the week with five drinks built around aperitivo and reworked hotel-bar classics.