Venice : A New Drink In Town

Cortese Scortese New Ginger Beer from Italy

Take a local Organic Soft Drink Company and a splendid location in a palace on the Grand Canal of Venice. Add a touch of sparkles, Christmas Lights and a fantastic buffet. Finish up with the presentation of a new organic all Made In Italy ginger beer. Shake it all up and serve to a bunch of elegant and Pirate Style dressed lively guests (who turned out to be among the best barmen in Italy).

Cortese Scortese at Venice Casino

What do you get?

Well, an amazing evening at the Venice Casino in Ca’ Vendramin Calergi, thanks to Bevande Futuriste, a local Veneto company, specialised in the production of high quality organic and low sugar soft drinks, all Made In Italy.

How to Party in Venice Casino with Cortese

On 14th December 2016, Marisa Convento of Venetian Dreams and I had the pleasure of being invited (yeah, I am still recovering from the shock of the invite) to take part at the presentation of a new product by Bevande Futuriste.

The venue was pretty small, around 200 people; the setting was simply unique, the beautiful frescoes rooms of the Venice Casino; the atmosphere and organisation simply perfect, amazing food and great drinks.

Pirate cocktail

The theme for the night was a Pirate Style evening, called “Il Clandestino Scortese”, bringing back memories of a 1920’s New York, during the era of prohibition in USA, and those speakeasy bars which offered refuge to the lovers of good drinking!

“Il Clandestino Scortese”

As we arrived, we were greeted by a bunch of beautiful young girls (ahhh, to be that young again) dressed as Sensual Lady Pirates, complete of hats and swords and the winning Maria of 2016, Claudia Marchiori, a young Venetian girl which is elected during the parade of the Marie at Carnival and which will be flying off San Marco church tower during Venice Carnival 2017.

Party time with Marisa

We were immediately offered a lovely lace mask to wear during the party and off we were, sent to the second floor of Ca’ Vendramin Calergi.

As we entered the impressive first hall of the party, our jaws dropped as we enjoyed the exquisite décor which had been chosen for the night: the lights were dim; there were only four drink stations, strategically positioned in the corners of the room managed by young pirate bartenders; the original frescos and chandeliers were the centrepiece of the venue.  We truly felt we had been transported back in time!

Venice Casino Chandelier

We decided that it was better to start the evening by sampling some food, before we got started on the alcohol.

We went through the second hall, which was much bigger and was also the centre stage for the DJ set.

DJ set with Cortese

There we found a large buffet, overflowing with deep fried mozzarellas, mozzarella Caprese bites, little puff pastry snacks, chunks of local cheese, little pizzas and much more.  We grabbed a bit of everything and washed it all down with a delicious organic low sugar Apple and Grapefruit juice, from the range Di Frutta of organic juices produced by Bevande Futuriste.

Di Frutta by Bevande Futuriste

Happy that we would not get drank easily, since we had a full stomach, we decided to tackle the inviting stands with the young pirate barmen, who were dishing out very enticing concoctions, while displaying their barista skills!

Barman at Cortese Party

Drinks for everyone with Cortese

The barmen were presenting an interesting #mixology of drinks, using a various range of spirits: Campari’s Bulldog Gin and Appleton Estate Rum, Tovel’s, Sabatini Gin, Rivo Gin, Compagnia dei Caraibi’s Prohibido Rum and Whitley Neill Gin, the exclusive Kauffman vodka as well as Spirits of Indipendece with Plogar vodka, Compagnia des Indes Rum and Cachaça Avua. All the spirits were mixed with the Cortese range of soft drinks.

Barman at Cortese Party

We started with a cocktail prepared with lots of ice, Compagnia Des Indies Rum, Cachaça Avua, bits of ginger and some other spirits (I might be wrong, I am not cocktail expert so do not get mad if I am wrong, but I think it was something called Caipirinha).

Cocktails by Cortese

A BOMB! But what a bomb!  We loved it and we got totally warmed up after that!

We then moved to the Gin and Tonic corner! This time we tried a Gin and Tonic prepared with Cortese Pure Tonic, a soft drink with natural quinine and Rivo Gin, a botanical gin from the Lake Como, distilled with hand picked herbs and flowers.

Rivo and Cortese Tonic

That was for sure another kick!

Vodka and Cortese

Then we got called in another dark room, which felt like a little secret alcove, where everyone was sitting in little puffs and stylish sofas and we were greeted by the soft voice of Roberto Pellegrini, the master of ceremonies.

Ginger beer Cortese

During his very quick but truly interesting introduction, we discovered all about the new product, which Bevande Futuriste was launching: a new type of organic ginger beer, a unique product in Europe.

Cortese Ginger Beer by Bevande Futuriste

Cortese Ginger beer comes from an original recipe of the 1700s.  Eduardo Soranzo, a Venetian botanic expert, has created a new style of ginger beer, by reinterpreting the original procedures of the XVIII century: first fermenting the ginger with a natural and slow method, then adding various ingredients like cane sugar, Asian pepper, chilly, carbon dioxide and lastly organic ginger juice. No chemical colorants or preservatives.

We loved it: spicy, energising, peppery, and perfect on its own or as the ingredient of a premium cocktail.  Well-done Bevande Futuriste!

This new drink will be available in the various bars in Italy and in the most selected cocktail bars in the USA from 2017.

We were very lucky to be among the restricted 208 people to get to try it during this private party. And we got to take back the unique bottle, which was created for the event.

I would like Bevande Futuriste and the press office of Gruppo Icat for inviting us to this unique event.

It is always nice to be able to support local Veneto companies, especially when they are young and successful, despite the hard times and the Italian financial situation.

And above all when they try to keep their production in loco, promoting organic products that are all Made in Italy.