Teroforma’s 1pt Cocktail Blends Teams with Crew Restaurant to Host Cocktail Lab Dinner

Wine or beer dinners in Fairfield County are common, but cocktail dinners? You don’t see very many (if any) offered on a regular basis. About a year ago, Chris Geideman, the owner of Crew Restaurant in Greenwich, along with Andrew Hellman, CEO of the Norwalk-based barware company Teroforma, started to discuss a cocktail dinner event of their very own. 

The idea would feature Teroforma’s 1pt Blends, a line of flavor kits that enable anyone from experienced bartenders to at-home amateurs to infuse spirits minus all the guesswork. Teroforma is a local CT company that creates all-natural, gourmet infusions for cocktails. After a bunch of casual conversations, they figured out a way not only to make it happen, but to make it something more than simply drinking and eating. 

On a chilly, rainy Monday night, Cocktail Lab became a reality. The concept—in addition to filling our bellies and warming our souls—was that of a six-course dinner paired with dueling cocktails from Geideman and Kate Fiore, Teroforma’s Head of Mixology. 

They wouldn’t both infuse spirits, though. While Fiore stuck to infused spirit cocktails with five ingredients or less, Geideman took a different approach with 1pt’s products and instead used it to infuse simple syrups to mix into each of his concoctions. 

Before each small plate was delivered, 20-plus people at the bar received an education about each 1pt infusion blend and each bartender spoke about their process for their cocktail creations, some of which were twists on a gin & tonic, negroni, and even a margarita. Some of Crew’s dishes included steamed mussels in herbed butter and gin broth, deep fried apricot glazed cauliflower, shrimp & grits, and a chocolate dipped macaroon paired with rum-coffee “shots” that used 1pt’s Chocolate Blend infusion.

The drink pairings in the Cocktail Lab didn’t only calm heat, enhance spices, and compliment dishes, but it was a stage to show dinner guests what the possibilities are with 1pt Blends. “Cocktails have growth in the restaurant industry, but the craft of it for customers usually stops at the door,” Hellman said. “1pt answers the call to consumers who want to try to make a good drink at home.”

This first edition acted as a test to see if the number of courses and drinks were right, and as a rehearsal for those involved in the education aspect. Fiore mentioned that maybe they’ll cut down the courses from six to four and offer one cocktail per dish instead of two and alternate between bartenders for each course because as she said, “That’s a lot of alcohol!” 

The future of more Cocktail Lab events is hopeful, according to Fiore. “There will definitely be another Cocktail Lab elsewhere or at Crew,” she said. “It’s a fantastic way to showcase the nuances of what you can do behind a professional bar, parallel to the simplicity of what you can do at home using 1pt infusions.  It’s a way to educate people on not only what goes into a cocktail, but how they can recreate it themselves and control their sugar intake, mixer, and spirit base without any limitations.”

Check out the complete menu here.