WILLIAMSBURG — Professional mixologist and William & Mary alum Greg Benson will return to the area to offer cocktail-making classes as part of this weekend’s Williamsburg Whiskey and Wine Weekend.
Benson, who graduated from the university in 2011, has worked at bars in the U.S. and abroad. Originally thinking he was going to be a brewery owner, he learned he lacked an important beer brewing skill.
“I worked in breweries and I swore that I was going to be that guy who opened his own. Through that time, I discovered that I just didn’t have the patience for it. You have it all right when you are doing the brew and when you seal it up in the fermenter, and you are so excited to taste it three weeks later, and it just falls short of what your expectations were,” Benson explained.
Through that lesson on patience, he began to focus his time on creating cocktails.
“I was drawn to the immediacy of it, but also the fun possibilities of creation that it had. Creating cocktails is this real-time way of seeing if you were onto something good or if you realized that it didn’t play out the way that you thought it would. You get instant results with cocktails,” Benson said.
During Williamsburg’s Whiskey and Wine Weekend, slated to run from June 27-29, Benson has two cocktail making classes that will take place at The Study at Amber Ox.
On Saturday, June 28, Benson will present a class on classic cocktails, where attendees will create an Old Fashioned and a Mint Julep. On Sunday, June 29, Benson’s class will focus on modern cocktails. Attendees will create a Black Manhattan and a Paper Plane. Each class is $50 and tickets must be purchased in advance.
“What I try and do with these classes is I try to frame these drinks in a way that people can kind of understand the legacy, learn one or two really fun and interesting stories and facts about them, learn where some of these drinks came from, where their names came from, and in that light, even if you are drinking something that you wouldn’t normally call for at a bar, just having that knowledge of what is in front of you in such an in-depth way does make it better,” Benson said.
He’s returned to the area quite a bit since graduating from William & Mary, and Benson noted that while he’s proud of how Williamsburg remains the same, the city has also expanded to include restaurants and bars that cater to all kinds of people.
“It’s really interesting to see some of the changes that are happening in Williamsburg. I always would joke to my other friends that went to different colleges that my college town still thought it was 1776. A place like the Amber Ox, I would have never have imagined existing when I was in school there. It’s cool to see the appreciation for the farm-to-table programs, these more advanced mixology moves. It’s cool to be able to see them in Williamsburg, being practiced in a way that it’s not just a restaurant owner bringing back recipes from other places in the country. These places do really feel like part of what the Williamsburg community is,” Benson said.
In addition to offering mixology classes throughout the United States, Benson also co-hosts The Speakeasy podcast. On the show, Benson and his co-hosts Damon Boelte and Sother Teague dive into what is driving current drink industry culture.
To learn more about Whiskey and Wine Weekend or to purchase tickets to Benson’s classes, visit williamsburgwhiskeywine.com.