The Gene Siskel Film Center's annual Oscar-viewing party is the only event in the city that's sanctioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As such, guests get official programs to follow the ceremony with, and other traditions include a red carpet entrance, a dinner buffet, and prizes for best-dressed guests and movie-star look-alikes. In past years, though, the event has been absent one key ingredient: cocktails.
Though beer, wine, and champagne kept guests from getting too thirsty in past years, this year's function had new sponsorship from distiller William Grant & Sons, now a client of the event's PR firm XA, the Experiential Agency.
The liquor company created four specialty cocktails for the Sunday affair, and servers poured drinks using Stolichnaya vodka, Milagro tequila, and more. Cocktails included the Lemony Snicket, made with gin, lemon cordial, and club soda, and the Aqua Para Chocolate, which combined tequila with ancho chile, chocolate cream, and a pinch of salt.
