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One of the Last Family Houses on Rainey Street Sold
Bob Woody, the self-proclaimed Mayor of Sixth Street, bought the last single-family residential house on Rainey Street, which is already full of homes and bungalows that have been turned into bars and restaurants. There are no details on what he plans on doing with the distinct 71 Rainey Street property (the frame is slanted), but it’s safe to assume it will take the form of some sort of bar, considering his resume and the existing entertainment district. Woody owns several downtown bars like the Blind Pig, Shakespeare’s Pub, and Buford’s Beer Garden.
Official Drink of Austin’s Judges
The yearly city cocktail competition Official Drink of Austin is happening again this fall. This year’s judges include Masahiro Urushido, the co-owner of the really great New York Japanese-American cocktail bar Katana Kitten; and Ashtin Berry, beverage consultant and activist of the Radical Xchange collective in New Orleans. They’ll be joined by Tiki Tatsu-ya’s Ryan Foster (whose cocktail won last year’s contest when he was at Juniper), and Wine for the People’s Rae Wilson. Competing bar and restaurant teams include Midnight Cowboy, Suerte, P6, and Apis. Everything benefits the Austin Food & Wine Alliance. It takes place on Thursday, September 12 at the Fairmont from 7 to 10 p.m. Early tickets are $55 for the first 150 people, and then regular advanced general admission entry is $65.
Books and Drinking
Ahead of the Texas Book Festival in the fall, the nonprofit is hosting a boozy sweet panel at Prohibition Creamery this week. People from American Short Fiction, Austin Bat Cave, Black Poets Speak Out, and Chicon Street Poets will talk about books and the city’s literary community. Just for the event, Prohibition is serving a themed sidecar cocktail, the A Sidecar Named Desire, made with brandy, pine-infused gin, hibiscus, and lemon. Partial proceeds from those drink sales will go back into the TBF. It takes place on Tuesday, August 13, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
