June is SLO Cocktail Month and lots of distilleries across the county are getting ready to mix-up the best drink.
Seventeen different restaurants and bars are highlighting three signature cocktails they created specifically for SLO Cocktail Month. Each one of the three cocktails highlights local distilleries in San Luis Obispo County.
The month-long event has several purposes but one of them is to educate people on the distillery process and the amazing spirits the county has to offer.
“Local craft cocktails start with local craft spirits, and it was amazing starting this journey because a lot of local bartenders and local mixologists didn’t even know that there were local spirits being made, and if they did, they didn’t know where those tasting rooms were, so this is educating our cocktail culture in San Luis Obispo County,” said Jasmine Woodjack, tasting room manager at Pendray’s Distillery and Coordinator of SLO Cocktail Month.
SLO Cocktail Month is also about exposure.
Woodjack said some of the local distilleries are very small and do not get distributed a lot.
“It is really exciting to see our label printed, you know on a menu, or on their bar shelf display,” Woodjack said.
She said getting the exposure is really the hope to get a permanent placing in some of these restaurants and bars.
This is SLO Cocktail Month’s second year.
“We are growing since last year and it is really exciting to see local bartender talent coming together with the local distilleries of the area,” Woodjack said.
About eight distillers are participating in SLO Cocktail Month.
Most of the distilleries are on the Paso Robles Distillery Trail.
For more information about SLO Cocktail Month and the restaurants participating click here.
