NEW! from Swirl Events

FLAVOR SCHOOL -

CREATE, EAT, DRINK!

 

AND

In collaboration with Hot Pot Culinary Events, Swirl Events has launched Flavor School™, an interactive cooking and wine tasting package.

Turn your next team building or dinner party into something truly unique.

Through a dynamic lesson, guests learn the fundamentals of cooking the event's themed dish and how to taste wine. They also explore the flavor principles of pairing food and wine. Then, it's time to get hands-on! Guests rotate through a series of "Flavor Stations," as they cook up their own creative versions of the highlighted dish. 

Each Flavor Station is focused on a distinct flavor profile - from Earthy to Spicy to Sweet - and is equipped with a set of ingredients highlighting the Station's unique flavor profile, like aged cheeses and gourmet mushrooms at the Earthy Station. Guests taste test through the selection of wines at each station and figure out which one brings out the best in their new creation and why.

What's included:
• Wine
• All kitchen equipment (ovens, etc)
• Team of chef instructors and wine experts
• Food ingredients
• Glassware, plates, napkins
• Set-up and clean-up
Location: Flavor School events can be held anywhere - at your office, in your home, a bar, a restaurant, or raw space. No kitchen or refreigeration equipment needed. We can also help you locate a venue.
Cost: Flavor School events start at $150/person (incl. tax + gratuity).
Contact: Info@SwirlEvents.com or call 917.463.3994 for more information and to book your Flavor School event.



Throw A Wine Tasting Holiday Party at Your Place

Are you a holiday entertainer? Time to start planning. With Swirl, you could throw the best holiday soiree where the RSVPs flood in - who can resist a wine tasting party?! The best part of all, you don't have to lift a finger - Swirl Events makes your holiday entertaining effortless with our special holiday party packages.

For this holiday season, we can work with you to craft a package for whatever size and style of holiday party you're having - whether guests stay all night or come open house style. We're available weeknights and weekends and serve NY, NJ and CT.

Call 917.463.3994 or Email Info@SwirlEvents.com

We provide EVERYTHING for your party including:

• Amazing wine
• Gourmet chocolate and cheese pairings
• Elegant stemware and all the party essentials (plates, trays, silverware, etc.)
• Our team of professionally-trained, dynamic Swirl wine experts.
• We can come to you OR help you locate the perfect venue.

AND NOW - Swirl Events is offering our wine tasting parties as a holiday gift. It's the perfect experiential present that's different from the "usual." We present you with a beautiful, customized, gift certificate redeemable for the amount you set. Just email Info@SwirlEvents.com to get more info.

Local, Artisanal & Seasonal Chocolate

When you think of local and seasonal, CSAs and vegetables of the moment come to mind (beets currently, right?). Rarely do chocolate and candy treats dive into this realm. Enter Liddabit Sweets. Their selection of Candy Bars, Honeycomb Candy, Jellies, Lollipops and Caramels changes seasonally based on the fruit and fit of the season.

"The King" (pictured right) a brown-butter cookie with peanut butter nougat and fresh banana/milk chocolate ganache will be featured at the Swirl Events Dessert & Wine Tasting on September 23rd from 7-9 in NYC. Tickets are still available here. Treats from Liddabit Sweets taste delicious and also support local farmers. So now, you can remove the "guilty" in the phrase "guilty pleasure."

Eco-Friendly Cookies with a Buttery Chardonnay

To be more environmentally friendly, I buy organic grapes and berries, but I never thought about where my Mint Milanos were coming from or what impact they were making. Call me a convert, because going forward, I'll choose Organic Almond Cookies from Gotham Cookies. Gotham Cookies is so new to market their website is still being developed but SwirlSavvy has the scoop for you early...and a way to taste them before they're widely available. Swirl Events will be featuring the Organic Almond Cookies (and perhaps their brownies!) at our Dessert & Wine Pairing Tasting Event on September 23rd. Tickets are going fast so check them out here. I'm thinking of pairing these organic, deliciously buttery cookies chock full of real almonds with a buttery Chardonnay with lots of peace and melon flavors. Have any suggestions? Leave a comment below.

Gotham Cookies offers a variety of gourmet bakery products that environmentally-conscious consumers will go ga-ga over! From organic ingredients to biodegradable packaging, Gotham Cookies strives to create luscious baked pieces of heaven with a minimal effect on the environment. Now you can say you're helping to save the environment when you down that second cookie. Come try them - and baked goods from 5 other independent, artisanal, local bakers - first hand on September 23rd. Tickets are $35.

Fudge Brownies Paired with Zinfandel?

The Swirl Events Dessert & Wine Pairing Tasting Event on September 23rd continues to gain steam. I'm so happy to feature my favorite brownies, Sweet Muse which I think I'll be pairing with a rich, jammy dark Zinfandel like Crauford. I'm a purist, so creator Laura Siner's Fudge Brownies are the ultimate chocolate treat for me, but Sweet Muse has over 12 flavors of brownies and now makes the most adorable, bite sized Brownie Buttons

which come in a box of a dozen. The most original Sweet Muse offering is their full-size brownies which can come individually wrapped and include a quote in the wrapping that can be customized for your occasion. Wouldn't this make a very special and personalized wedding favor with a favorite quote from the couple on love or something about their big day? So much better than those candy coated almonds that serve better in a vicious food fight or linger at the bottom of your purse in the occasion you ever become that hungry...not that it's ever happened...I'm just sayin'

Chocolate Covered Bacon & Truffles and...WINE?

We can't wait to attempt this pairing. Swirl is partnering with Roni-Sue's Chocolates, famous for their "Pig Candy," crispy fried bacon strips, dipped in either milk or dark chocolate. We're going to attempt to pair wine with their unbelievable chocolate truffles - of which they have over 20 varieties - at our September 23rd Artisanal Dessert & Wine Pairing Event. What wine do you think pairs with chocolate covered fried bacon? And what about pomegranate dark chocolate truffles? Send over your suggestions. And buy tickets here: www.swirlevents.com

Love Dessert & Wine? Who doesn't - this Event is for you!

My company, Swirl Events, is partnering up with 6 different independent, local, artisanal dessert makers and pairing them with wine from around the world. Learn a little about each of the partners below - you're forewarned...this will make you crave cookies, candy, chocolate, brownies... BUY TICKETS HERE (LAST EVENT SOLD OUT IN 3 DAYS!): www.SwirlEvents.com




Roni-Sue's Chocolates - The finest and freshest ingredients artfully crafted into a selection of homemade truffles, our critically acclaimed honey & tea lollipops, caramels, seasonal specialties and of course buttercrunch-our signature candy. Come watch us make our candies on-site at the historic Essex Street Market on the LES!

Sweet Muse celebrates the creative, playful spirit in all of us with freshly baked treats to indulge the senses and inspire. Specializing in rich, fudgy brownies, and offering over a dozen flavors, Sweet Muse bakes from scratch using only the finest ingredients. Brownie tins and boxes perfect for personal and corporate gift-giving can be shipped throughout the US or hand delivered within Manhattan.

Gotham Cookies is an organic bakery specializing in gourmet cookies and brownies.

Liddabits Sweets specializes in handmade candy bars, lollipops, fruit jellies, and other sweets made with the finest locally sourced ingredients. We live and work by our motto -- Local, Artisanal, Seasonal!

WannaHavaCookie specializes in small-batch cookies, bars and whoopie pies baked fresh to order, and we ship nationwide. Packaging available in classic bakery boxes, premium gift tins or party platters. Because you know you "wanna hava cookie"!

Gourmetibles seven delicious flavors of the best tasting confection to be created in years. Our gourmet snacks have been described as "too good to share" and "so good they're evil". People who try it usually buy it, those who buy it can't seem to get enough.

Dessert & Wine Pairing Tasting Event - Sept 23rd

If you loved our Cupcake & Wine Tasting or missed it (but heard how much fun we had!) join us on September 23rd for an even bigger, tastier event.

Swirl Events (www.SwirlEvents.com), the wine tasting party company with a fresh, hip approach, and six different artisanal sweets makers from NYC present a Wine and Artisanal Dessert Pairing Tasting Event on September 23rd. Mingle with other dessert and wine lovers as you taste through each sweet and wine duo and debate the merits of pairing dark chocolate pomegranate truffles and caramel brownies with a spicy, smokin' Shiraz between decadent bites.

What: Taste 6 different varieties of desserts from independent, local artisanal dessert makers including Sweet Muse, Roni-Sue's Chocolates, Liddabit Sweets, Gourmetibles, Gotham Cookies and WannaHavaCookie paired with sparkling, white and red wines from around the world lead by Swirl Events' wine pros.

When: Wednesday, September 23rd, 7-9 PM

Where: AVEvenue NYC 15 W. 28th St. between Broadway & 5th Ave. www.avenyc.com ; (R/W to 28th St. stop)

How much: $35

Buy tickets here: www.SwirlEvents.com

For More Info Email: Info@SwirlEvents.com OR Call: 917.463.3994

Tickets are limited and not available at the door. The last event DID sell out within a few days.

Event is co-sponsored by AVEvenue.

Dessert and wine - who could resist?!

Uncorked NY ! SwirlSavvy as MC

Want to do good while drinking great wine? Join me as I host the Uncorked NY three course dinner with food and wine pairings to raise money for the local New York charity, City Harvest.

The event was started by Heidi Weaver and friends. One of her New Year's Resolutions for 2009 was to do something for someone other than herself. She found no better way to raise money for a good cause than to share a few glasses of wine with friends! Her friends started Uncorked in Washington DC a few years ago and she thought it was so great and decided to bring it to NYC. I couldn't be happier to help out by MCing for the evening.

I hope you can join us for this event. Please feel free to spread the word and invite others. It will be a fun evening and one that honors a great cause. Check out the website below for more info and photos from Uncorked DC. Looking forward to seeing you!

Uncorked NY
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
Brasserie Julien
www.uncorkedny.org

Have a Wine Tasting Bridal Shower or Bachelorette Party

If you're looking for the best and most creative solution to your Greater New York bridal shower or bachelorette party, read about a recent event we did sponsored in party by Brides.com and Brooklyn Bride.

This past weekend, we at Swirl Events had a chance to prove its wine tasting parties are the hip, modern and fun solution to a bridal shower or bachelorette party. We had the chance to throw a wine tasting party for a group of 20 bridal bloggers from across the country. The "B-List" as this new group is known is a hard to please group because they've seen it all and are pros themselves!. But wouldn't you know, they loved our wine tasting where we compared wines to celebrities. Just check out the great reviews from some of the best bridal bloggers across the country: Oh So Beautiful Paper, I Will to I Do (from Brides.com pro Anne Chertoff), The Ritzy Bee, and many more.


As we do with all of our bridal events, we kicked things off by handing each guest a glass of sparkling wine (Prosecco, a great sub for Champers during a wedding toast!) as they walked in the door. We paired it with the unbelievable pomegrante truffles from Roni-Sues, a generous sponsor for the event.

Since we provide everything you need (Riedel stemware, serving dishes, plates, napkins, etc.) plus our team of dynamic Swirl wine experts, the girls were able to kick back and enjoy themselves as we walked through five more wines and compared them to celebrities. Is your glass lively like Heidi Klum? or Heading Toward Disaster like Britney Spears? It's a surefire way to get people who might now know eachother to strike up a conversation or even a friendly debate.

Each of the wines were paired with cheeses which the guests were encouraged to sample with the wines as they put descriptions to the wines using the Swirl Cheat Sheet.

As you can see from their smiles, my guests had a wonderful time while they learned a bit about wine and relaxed with a glass or two.

If you're interested in a wine tasting bridal shower or wine tasting bachelorette party, contact us at Info@SwirlEvents.com or 917.463.3994.

{images by Christina and Vane}