Dominic Venegas Aces SF Weekly Cocktail Competition

Gil Riego Jr.

Dominic Venegas of 83 Proof straining his Chandelier, the award-winning cocktail at Saturday's Drink event.

​Hundreds of the thirsty showed up at the Fairmont Saturday for SF Weekly's first-ever Drink, a tipplers' tour through dozens of spirits, beer, wine, and cocktails. The night's centerpiece was a bartender throwdown, featuring four faces from behind the stick at various S.F. drinking establishments, each mixing up a cocktail built around the orange liqueur Combier. The winner? Dominic Venegas of 83 Proof for his Chandelier, a blend of Nolet's gin, Carpano Antica sweet vermouth, Combier, quarter-wheels of orange and grapefruit, and ― okay ― the rest is blurry. Runner-up was David Ruiz of Mr. Smith's, whose entry incorporated clementine marmalade from his company That's My Jamm. Click through pictures of the competition and other scenes of Saturday's stumbling via Gil Riego Jr.'s gorgeous slideshow. Nothing blurry about that.