After a sweet dive into a candy man’s chocolate factory and a quick trip around the world, how could the Academy Center of the Arts top its past two mixologist competitions?
By stepping back in time, of course.
Come Thursday, guests will have a chance to brush off their flapper dresses and pinstripe suits and secretly sip some elicit brews at the Academy’s third top mixologist fundraiser, this year dubbed “Drink Well, Speak Easy.”
“I like the speakeasy-style, kind of a secret sort of thing,” says Daniel Servas, a bartender at RA Bistro and winner of last year’s competition, “Top Mixologist: The World Awaits.”
“The mystery behind it — the hidden party —that whole aspect of it, like … you’re in an alley and you look like [you’re] somewhere you shouldn’t be and all of a sudden there’s bright lights and music and people are having a ball.”
As it turns out, the Academy itself has some Prohibition-era history.
Earlier this year, Executive Director Geoff Kershner took to social media and shared a newspaper clipping from 1918 about a police raid on the Academy of Music that resulted in the confiscation of 71 pints of liquor as well as the arrests of the theater manager and a stage hand.
“They were running bootleg alcohol out of the basement of the Academy,” he says with a chuckle.
If the clip wasn’t enough, Kershner says one of the early construction teams preparing the historic theater for restoration in the mid- to late ’90s found a whole stash of old liquor bottles that had been hidden during the era.
“We know that it was a spot alcohol was being moved through,” he says. “It’s an interesting part of the years past.”
The theme also gives this year’s competitors a variety of directions, especially since they get to choose their own alcohol instead of having it pre-assigned like in past competitions, says Servas.
“Do I go full-on distillery in the back, like in an alley, or do you go Gatsby, single-malt, flashy?” he says. “It’s fun to kind of figure it out.”
Though the Academy’s history with alcohol is less than squeaky clean, the upcoming fundraiser is above board.
Like the previous top mixologist competitions, which have raised more than $25,000, proceeds from the boozy fundraiser will once again go toward bringing the arts to underprivileged demographics in the community through the organization’s Community Outreach Initiative, says Michelle Davis, development associate for the arts center.
Local bartenders from the Lynchburg restaurant community will go head-to-head in a battle for cocktail dominance, but for the first time, a few members of the Academy’s board and donor group have also thrown their fedoras into the ring.
“Every act the wonderful Academy dreams up is in some way a creative act, and I don’t like to walk away from creative fun when it’s offered,” says board member Perry Payne Millner, who attended the Academy’s Willy Wonka-themed event in 2016 and volunteered to represent the arts organization this year.
“It seemed like a wonderful, fun adventure, and I’m excited to be part of it.”
While the four board and donor group members are technically amateurs, that doesn’t mean they won’t bring their A-game.
“Who’s to say I’m not?” Millner replies when asked about competing against professionals. “I have done my duties in New York early in my performing career as a server and barmaid in establishments, some more reputable than others.”
Including volunteers connected with the Academy is a great way to extend the competition beyond restaurants, says Kershner, who adds there may be even more community members involved in future competitions if the night goes well.
Either way, Servas says, he’s sure the drinks will be better than the rather potent brews from the 1920s.
“When Prohibition happened, everyone was making liquor in their basements, kind of like breweries are today,” he says. “Everyone was trying to make liquor and some of it was real gross. They called it ‘bathtub’ gin.”