File Under: Hot Dates

• On Saturday, Nov. 6,  go Dutch with a "Tour & Taste" brought to you by Rolling Orange Bike Shop, Vandaag and Bols Genever. Meet at 9 a.m at the bike shop at 269 Baltic Street in Cobble Hill, then bike over the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan with a stop at the Union Square Greenmarket. Vandaag chef Phillip Kirschen-Clark will lead a walking and tasting tour of the fresh ingredients he's inspired by. Then bike to Vandaag in the East Village for a three-course lunch paired with Bols Genever cocktails mixed up by Katie Stipe, or enjoy a beer or mocktail. Tickets are $45; email tourandtaste@vandaagnyc.com.
• Also on Saturday, Nov. 6, and also featuring Bols Genever, there will be a Daylight Savings drink promotion at Louis 649. Enjoy a "Kopstootje"--a tulip glass of Bols Genever, to be slurped alongside a beer, from 11 p.m. to midnight, for a special price. What were you planning on doing with that extra hour, anyway?
• You can file this in your mental folder of geeky cocktail trivia: Monday, Nov. 8 just happens to be "Harvey Wallbanger Day." A classed-up screwdriver, the Harvey Wallbanger features vodka, orange juice and Galliano (an Italian liqueur featuring notes of vanilla, juniper, anise and yarrow musk). There are a few stories about how the popular '70s drink got its name, and most seem to agree on a drunken Cali surfer who kept stumbling into walls. Find the classic at Huckleberry Bar and variations at Dram and Clover Club.
• If you haven't already secured a ticket for WhiskyFest New York on Tuesday, Nov. 9, you're out of luck--the massive event is sold out. But you can still sip a dram or two at the after-party at Ward III, where after 10 p.m., there will be $5 beer specials, snacks and the possibility of whisk(e)y leftover from the festival for sampling. 111 Reade St., Tribeca.

Dizzy Recap: Nirvino & Bols Genever

Earlier this week, Nirvino, a social networking site (and mobile application) that encourages users to recommend and review drinks, hosted a Bols Genever cocktail party at Beekman Bar & Books. Created in Holland during the 16th century, Genever is the original recipe for gin, although the white spirit tastes very different from the London Dry style of gin. Made with maltwine (distilled from corn, rye, and wheat), and various botanicals (including ginger, coriander, and, of course, juniper berries), Bols Genever has a rich, slightly floral, malty flavor and is very smooth and neutral. Relaunched last year, the spirit has been a hit with NYC mixologists and won the Best New Spirit award at this summer's Tales of the Cocktail. It's especially relevant to the classic cocktail revolution since Genever was one of four main ingredients called for in many cocktails created by the pioneer of American bartending, Jerry Thomas.

For the Nirvino event, Ben Scorah, mixologist and managing partner of Bar & Books, mixed cocktails that would normally feature scotch whisky and used the Bols Genever instead. Guests were encouraged to sample three different concoctions--a Green Apple-Infused Old Fashioned, a Dutch Blood & Sand, and a Holland Razorblade (Bols Genever, lemon juice, simple syrup, and cayenne pepper).  A laptop was connected to a large flatscreen TV that scrolled live reviews by Nirvino users of the cocktails, so everyone could see that the Blood & Sand was clearly the crowd favorite.  Tal Nadari and Katie Darling of Lucas Bols Spirits were on hand to share more information about Bols Genever, and at the end of the event, two Nirvino users were chosen at random to win bottles of Bols Genever and cocktail shakers. Tomas Delos Reyes, the NYC representative for Nirvino, says these cocktail events will be happening monthly, so if you want to join in, just sign up as a member at Nirvino.com.