Local beverage store wants to help you learn how to throw a great party… by throwing a great party
Amy Christian
Throwing a great party is something that Faulkner Warlick takes very seriously. And just how great a party he can throw will be on display this Sunday, December 2, at the Legends Club, where he and Kitchen 1454 Chef Edward Mendoza will host the Holiday Wine & Spirits Extravaganza.
Warlick and Mendoza met when a mutual friend got them together after Warlick took over ownership of the White Horse Wine & Spirits three years ago. The friend thought the store owner and the chef would work well together and that’s definitely proven to be the case.
“Since our initial meeting, we’ve managed to slay out 6-10 wine dinners and special events where we worked together,” Warlick explained. “He’ll write the menu and Melissa [Christensen], my store manager, and I sit down with a football essentially and toss around ideas about wine pairings. They we do a sitdown to see make sure the foods and wines go together.”
The upcoming extravaganza, he said, will be similar to those events but on a grander scale.
“We’ve done a lot of small parties and private tastings,” Warlick said. “The difference between those and this is that this is much more of a public event that people can participant in.”
Warlick said from that those attending the event will learn what he knows about party planning.
The White Horse will provide the drinks — wines, liquors and liqueurs and beers — while Mendoza will provide hors d’oeuvres such as bacon lollipops, fried risotto balls and coffee-rubbed pork with polenta squares. Glassmaker company Reidel will also be onhand for a stemware presentation.
“They’re the best,” Warlick said of the company. “And they’ll be showing the decanters and glasses that they have.”
Eleven tables will showcase 30 wines, 19 bottles of liquor and seven beers for the tasting, with four-six specialty cocktails also available to sample. Recipes for those cocktails will also be handed out.
“At one table, for instance, you’ll taste the salted caramel whiskey and we’ll also have a salted caramel apple shot that we made with it,” Warlick explained. “There will be a recipe card on the table to take with you. You can take the whiskey neat or how we recommend you put it together.”
Another drink is a White Horse twist on a popular mixed drink.
“It’s called Dark and Stormy, which is ginger beer and rum,” he said. “We took a spin on that and called it the Stormy Holiday because we think it’s funny because sometimes, when you’re around family over the holidays, things can get kind of tense. It has ginger beer and dark rum, but it also includes an allspice liqueur that has kind of a cinnamon-clovey taste to it. It’s a holiday spinoff of the Dark and Stormy that’s kind of like a wassail.
Planning this type of party is second nature to Warlick who, before taking over ownership of the White Horse, was a wine distributor, an importer and a broker.
“And now I’m a retailer, so I’ve worn all the hats at the table,” he said. “I’m 42-year-old and I know what I’m doing.”
Because he knows so much about the business, he’s the perfect resource for the reluctant party planner who may be dreading hosting duties at an upcoming holiday get-together.
“It will highlight our strengths and our vision that make us a unique destination for information as well as products,” he said. “This is an opportunity to shar some of my knowledge with my customers and hopefully encourage some new people to come in and see what the White Horse is all about.” Holiday Wine & Spirits Extravaganza
The Legends Club
Sunday, December 2 | 3-6 p.m.
$30, advance; $40, at the door
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