Gourmet cuisine from Tarrant County’s best restaurants, premium wines from local wineries, an open bar serving one of THE BEST Texas whiskies, and rubbing elbows with some of the most influential members of the Tarrant County community … and all for a good cause … that’s what makes a great night.
For 37 years, The Barrett Havran Memorial Big Taste of Fort Worth has been creating these great experiences. Every year, they partner with the best of the best Tarrant County has to offer, including a VIP wine tasting, and an incredible auction to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters. This year’s event was hosted at the beautiful Omni Hotel, in Fort Worth.
The live auction had several luxe packages including a seven-day stay in Tuscany, a Capital Grille dining experience with former NFL running back LaDainian Tomlinson (also a celebrity tasting judge at the event), and a luxury Fort Worth weekend including dinner for two at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse, tickets to Bass Performance Hall, along with a night stay at the Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth Hotel complete with use of a new Lexus LS460 during the stay.
The silent auction included Pulsar Watches, various wines (oh, so many wines, including Champagne Taittinger, Robert Foley Vineyards, White Rose Estate) along with art, books, electronics, and clothing.
The food tasting featured an all-star lineup of Whiskey & Rye our of the Omni Fort Worth, Del Frisco’s, The Capital Grille – Fort Worth, and Eddie V’s Prime Seafood.
All the chefs brought their A-game to provide countless samples for guests to eat. There was absolutely no excuse for anyone to leave hungry … or sober, for that matter. (Thank you, Uber.)
About that … guests were invited to enjoy multiple open bars serving beer selections and Robert Mondovi Private Selection wines.
The most amazing part was they were also featuring one of my new favorite whiskeys, Texas Silver Star.
This stuff … is amazing … and local. The artisans behind this concept are Mark Lusignan, Ben Alexander and Don Alexander of the Trinity River Distillery located in Fort Worth. This small-batch whiskey is distilled from select corn, barley and rye, and aged in new charred American white oak barrels for around 2.5 years. In addition, the team collects and stores rainwater in two 13,000 gallon steel tanks that they process and filter using reverse osmosis – most likely a sophisticated commercial RO system was used to assist in the treatment of the water to make it suitable for use in their products. This event featured the Spirit Whiskey and, my personal favorite, Texas Honey. (Go out and find some. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.)
In all seriousness, being a part of this event was completely amazing. The Barret Havran Memorial event supports Big Brothers Big Sisters‘s mission to help at-risk youth graduate high school, avoid juvenile delinquency and prepare for college and job readiness. Seeing the outpouring of support from some of Fort Worth’s most influential community was incredible to witness.
The Fort Worth chapter of BBBS currently has 700 children on their waiting list. If you would like to learn how you can help impact these children’s lives, you can donate or volunteer at www.bbbstx.org.
Keep an eye out for next year’s Big Taste of Fort Worth event so you can be part of the change!