What a great event!!! First of all, this year's event was hosted at Cain's (dressed up in mighty fine party duds. The ole' gal was looking smashing). Secondly, two different seminars were offered if you needed coaching up on fine spirits: The Evolution of Craft Whiskey (put on by CORSAIR) and Whiskey 101 (presented by Ranch Acres). Will from CORSAIR was hilarious and passionate about his product. Third, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey....and craft cocktails by some of the best mixologists in Tulsa...and some mighty fine eats from Jeff Marlow, the Community Food Bank's Chef. Finally, what a worthy cause, the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. The video clip that was played before the auction brought tears to my eyes. What a much needed organization. Our favorite discoveries had to be the complex and interesting Oilfire (an American Rye) along with the crazy Quinoa Whiskey (yep you read that correct) and the Citra Double IPA Hopped Whiskey (both from CORSAIR). Every food item from Chef Jeff's kitchen was delicious but I think the Bruschetta and the Goat Cheese Mashers were my favorites. I also have to give a shout out to Mollycoddled Hash Slinger (what a great name) and their toffees! Thanks to the Tulsa Yelp team for allowing us this wonderful and fun opportunity. We played along with the Whiskey Pull and I think we came out a bit ahead. Fun, fun times. Thanks again Yelp for making our invitation possible! read more

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Can I just come here every Friday night please?! What an incredible event put on by the Community Food Bank, but after having the pleasure of attending their Empty Bowls event earlier this year; I wasn't surprised one bit. They completely transformed Cain's Ballroom into a whiskey wonderland, and it was awesome! We entered and were greeted by a huge team and given commemorative glasses and a token to vote on our favorite mixologist of the night--we had to try the drinks a few times just to be sure about our vote there were more whiskies than I've ever seen in my life available to taste and learn about, along with other liquor and treats from the local area (tried something that tasted like pumpkin spice Baileys that is made in Jenks that i will HAVE to follow up on). I didn't make the first seminar, but did attend the Whiskey 101, which taught me everything I had ever hoped to know about the drink and how it's made. We enjoyed incredible gourmet food and desserts and left full and warm despite the cold night--I hope the food bank made alllll the dollars because they do incredible work for this community, and I was thrilled to be able to celebrate with them at Giving Spirits. read more

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Calling all kind hearted whiskey connoisseurs...if you've been looking for an annual event you can look forward to, look no further than Giving Spirits brought to you by the OK Community Food Bank! This is a night filled with great people with excellent intentions, knowledgeable whiskey hosts accompanied by events within the event. Don't forget about food and raffles to boot! I have a great love for Four Roses and it was great to see them there again. I last attended Giving Spirits in 2014 and got to visit with Kent of FR. Much to my surprise he was there this round too and will continue to be. Be sure to stop by his booth for the best mini-seminar in the whole event. He even sent me a beautiful book about the distillery which I received a few days ago due to his love for my enthusiasm, but who can blame me?! :) What a guy! I hope to make it out for another year, maybe I'll see you there! read more

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Giving Spirits is an annual fundraiser benefiting the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. This organization does amazing things for our city (they provide almost 400k meals each week) to people struggling with hunger. It is great to support it! This year, the event was held at Cain's Ballroom. Check-in was setup as soon as you came in. There were memorable event glasses handed out to each guest along with an event booklet detailing whiskeys and food available. I loved that they had whiskey seminars for those of us who are not connoisseurs. The experts taught how to enjoy tasting whiskey (apparently you don't shoot it like tequila lol! You sip it...). The night was a bit chilly and the whiskey quickly helped me warm up. There were more than 60 whiskeys from all over the world available for tastings. They were setup up all around the ballroom and each one had such a unique flavor. I was very glad I had my boyfriend to give me the breakdown of each one. He was very impressed with the selection available (he just came back from a trip to Scotland and knows about good whiskey). I enjoyed the craft cocktail competition going on throughout the night as well. Each attendee could vote for their favorite drink. I tried all of them and it was tough to choose a favorite! The winning drink was the Atreides Mule, with Old Henry Clay Rye from Jamese Pepper Distillery. It had a cinnamon taste to it that was very nice! My absolute all time DISCOVERY at this event was Breton. It is more of a dessert whiskey, appropriately placed next to Glacier's chocolates. Breton is a cream-liqueur type single-malt whiskey that is hand-blended and bottled at a manufacturing facility in Jenks. They suggested adding it to our coffee and it was SO delicious. Various liquor stores around Tulsa like the Wine Cellar in Tulsa Hills carry it. MUST TRY!!!! read more

This was such an elegant event! Not only did it benefit a good cause for Youth Services of Tulsa but it was simply amazing. I brought my dad as his belated Father's Day gift. He really enjoyed all of the different whiskeys they had and I was pleasantly surprised by the cool craft cocktails. We kept going back for more food and more booze. But that is how you should do it! I am so happy I got to go to this event. We had an excellent father daughter date! read more

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Pros: what a Fun night! Wasn't a whisky drinker before this, but consider myself a convert. Ran into some old acquaintances and met new people. Free parking, plenty of spots. Cons: I was warned to expect only nibbles, but I needed something more substantial to absorb the samples. read more

Giving Spirits is a charity event benefitting the Northeastern Oklahoma Community Food Bank, one of the best local charities around. The historic Cain's Ballroom is transformed into a beautifully decorated distillery tasting arena, with barrels and barrels of spirits and whiskey barrels as chandeliers. Not only can you sample all types of whiskey from around the world (Bourbon, Scotch, Irish, even Canadian), area mixologists whip up specialty cocktails in a competition for the best of the night. Mingle with delicious hors d'oeuvres from the best chefs in town, and chat it up with other whiskey enthusiasts. Giving Spirits is a great way to show your support to an amazing local charity, all while enjoying one of your favorite libations. Plan to come next year! read more

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First, I attend several charity events every year. Giving Spirits has by far exceeded my expectation in every respect. You will definitely want to mark your calendar for next year because this event is not to be missed. Many thanks to the Cain's Ballroom for providing the venue, it was perfect in every way. The Giving Spirits organization did an outstanding job of creating a vibe and professional support to make the event enjoyable for everyone. They even had a seminar room for whiskey classes about the history of craft whiskey which I found very informational and the speaker was just great. Throughout the evening a jazz band played easy to listen to music that everyone loved and it didn't overpower the conversations or activities. In fact, I found myself missing the music when they took a break or were stopped for presentations. I also have to give great credit to whoever created the fantastic video presentations. Near the end was a real tear jerker showing people who not only benefit from the Food Bank, but according to their own statements they would be lost without it. There were also other slides showing how dramatically your donations could explode into a significant multiples of meals for seniors, children, and anyone that is hungry. I have to admit, it really touched my heart and led to many more donations than I expected to be making. There was no shortage of whiskey to taste and as a special treat, they had four of tulsa's finest bartenders competing in a cocktail competition that I found very difficult to pick the winner. Voting was handled by a wooden coin placed in the bartender's jar of your choice. The cocktails helped break up the constant bombardment of the whiskey that was available to taste. The alcohol distributors were all present and happy to help you learn more while tasting their wares. There were plenty of pourers to prevent any backups or lines. Truly, a sensational lineup. The food that I tried was prepared by the Food Bank's able chef and I found myself going back for some of the offerings. The flank steak with the chimichurri sauce is just something you don't normally see at the rubber chicken events. There was plenty of food and towards the end I saw a wide selection of sweets. The auctioneer was brilliant. He really knew the order and sequence for drawing money out of the crowd and it was a pleasure to watch his techniques. Again, I found myself donating much more than I had anticipated, but how can you not want to help this amazing organization do their work? I know this was long, but I didn't want to miss anyone. The organizers, the helpers, the vendors, the speakers, the chefs, servers, musicians all combined to create a lively and fun way to spend an evening. I was going to load up some pictures but I see that most would be redundant to what have already been posted. Do yourself a favor and get signed up to either help or enjoy this event next year. read more

Such a fun event benefitting the Food Bank. It was so thought out, every detail was well planned. The music, food and of course the whiskey were all excellent. Learned so much & had a great evening! read more

Giving Spirits - Table scape, a mixologist drink special! - Festivals Near Me - Tulsa, Oklahoma

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What a fancy event. The food bank did an amazing job turning the inside of this hotel ballroom into a swanky place to drink Whiskey and have a good time. All the cocktails were unique and tasty. The food was awesome. The only thing that was not my favorite was the entertainment. Other than than all was awesome! read more

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This was by far the best fundraising event I have been to in a looong time. Possibly ever. The concept is perfect for the venue (Cain's Ballroom). The turnout was great. The whiskey was too! Set up all around the room were stations with different drinks to try and vote on. People were having so much fun with this they forgot about everything else going on! There were seminars going on that you could drop into and do a guided tasting which is a really unique idea for an event and it totally worked. Brought me back to being in Napa or Tuscany doing really serious wine tastings. A very cool offer. The food, like all Food Bank food made by the chef, was AMAZING. The culinary team is top knotch. Everyone just really seemed to enjoy themselves at this event much more so than many charity events I have attended, myself included. I will be back! Oh, and a couple other highlights were the live painter (Chris Mantle) whose piece was auctioned off AND bag pipers! read more

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