Bourbon & Bounty

Ashley Limehouse, Venita Aspen, and Deirdre Zahl arrive at the Garden & Gun headquarters for an evening of cocktails, music, and Southern cuisine.

Lizzie Armstrong, Doug Warner, Truman Smith, and Ross Armstrong partake in specialty Blade and Bow bourbon drinks during the pre-dinner cocktail hour.

The event’s signature cocktails were the Double Barrel, consisting of Blade and Bow bourbon, lemon juice, and cinnamon honey syrup, and the Gardener, featuring Blade and Bow bourbon, Cocchi Americano, vermouth, green Chartreuse, maraschino, and orange bitters.

Garden & Gun Society members Jim and Olivia Sharpton and Marie and Jeff Welna explore the space before finding their seats for dinner.

North Carolina-based husband-and-wife duo Chatham Rabbits provide the evening’s acoustic/folk soundtrack.

Blade and Bow team members Jibu Banerji, Meghan Nick, Camille Clifford, Bill Gustafson, and Allison Kinder.

Garden & Gun cofounder and president Rebecca Darwin joins Doug Kragel of Blade & Bow to kick off the bourbon tasting.

The evening’s first course, an “old fashioned” foie gras terrine with Luxardo cherries and orange, a whiskey gastrique, and cowboy candy, is prepared by chef Isaac Toups of Toups Meatery and Toups South in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Chef Whitney Otawka of the Greyfield Inn on Cumberland Island prepares the second course, smoked sheepshead with wild-caught Georgia shrimp, rice middlins, scallion, and Cumberland lemon.

Chef Craig Deihl of Hello, Sailor in Cornelius, North Carolina presents the final course, a roasted rabbit saddle with farro verde, plantain peas, carrots, cabbage, and vin blanc.

Miguel Buencamino of Holy City Handcraft and photographer Kirk Chambers continue the merriment after dinner.

As the evening’s featured chefs, Craig Deihl, Whitney Otawka, and Isaac Toups collaborate to create an unforgettable meal celebrating the South’s native bounty.

Guests linger at their tables for cocktails and conversation following the final course.