It was a brisk November night with clear and calming skies over the all-new Michael’s Restaurant located above the Negro Southern League Museum near Railroad Park in Downtown Birmingham. Thanks to COVID-19 the protocol required a temperature check upon entry to the restaurant and once again on the rooftop before being seated. The night was sponsored by Woodford Reserve® and hosted by Anne Borne who is a Certified Specialist of Spirits and Market Manager On-Premise for West Virginia, Alabama and Mississippi (WAM) with Brown-Forman Beverages and Greg Freeman, Alabama/Mississippi Spirit Specialist with United-Johnson Brothers of Alabama.
Dinner and Tasting
Dinner featured a four-course meal all highlighted with a hint of bourbon prepared by the amazing Chef Eryka Perry. Starters included Bourbon BBQ Wings and a Woodford Reserve® cocktail followed by the choice of an arugula salad with grilled pears, brie and candied bourbon bacon or Mike’s house salad with bourbon pecans.
Between the appetizer and the salad Anne Born educated us on the Woodford Reserve® brands with a tasting and an overview of No Kid Hungry (see below).
Entree and Dessert
The entree options included a choice of bourbon sriracha salmon with corn and asparagus or a 6-ounce filet with bourbon maple glaze and bourbon wild mushroom risotto. For dessert we were offered the choice of Michael’s award-winning white chocolate macadamia nut bread pudding with bourbon butter sauce or butter pecan ice cream.
Woodford Reserve‘s commitment to No Kid Hungry
This year Woodford Reserve® will donate $55,000 to help No Kid Hungry fight childhood hunger.
More about No Kid Hungry
Founded in 2010, No Kid Hungry is a national campaign working with food banks throughout the US with the goal of ending child hunger. Believe it or not, just $1 can provide 10 meals through programs funded by No Kid Hungry. Across the US, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, No Kid Hungry developed a Free Meals Finder to help families find free meals and provided $34.5 million in emergency relief. Here in Alabama, Feeding the Gulf Coast (FTGC) receives funds in partnership with No Kid Hungry to support meals and programs in 9 counties along the coast and southern Alabama (Choctaw, Washington, Clarke, Monroe, Conecuh, Covington, Escambia, Baldwin, and Mobile). These counties make up areas of Alabama hit especially hard not only by COVID-19 but also by Hurricane Sally flooding, continued cleanup and recovery. FTGC Programs to help fight hunger for children include:
- After school Meals Program – provides free meals and snacks to children throughout the school year.
- Backpack Program – Partnering with 170 schools to reach over 5,400 children, this program helps meet the needs of hungry children by providing them with nutritious and easy to prepare food to take home on weekend and school vacations. This program is also helping to keep children from slipping through the cracks with school learning changes due to COVID-19.
- Summer Meals Program – provides no-cost meals and snacks to children and teens during the summer months and during times of unanticipated school closures. When schools closed earlier this year due to the pandemic, this program provided access to children during the school day. This program continues to provide access to nutritious
meals during this school year when some schools remain closed to children and hybrid learning models are in place. Children who are not able to receive a school lunch can visit a Summer Meals location to receive a nutritious meal. These meals are also distributed in a grab and go model to ensure social distancing and safety during the pandemic. With the holidays and some schools providing only distance learning, food insecurity is an even bigger challenge for Alabama children. Feeding the Gulf Coast is having to really stretch those funds to feed 1 in 3 children who face missing meals, that’s an increase of 27% due to COVID-19 alone.
Woodford Reserve® invites you to join with them in making family, friends and followers aware of the work being done in Alabama by No Kid Hungry and how even the smallest gift will make a difference. Easily donate any amount by texting FRIENDS to 68-405. Through this partnership with No Kid Hungry, there is a Feeding America food bank here locally in the Birmingham area working to fight hunger. To learn more about this organization, please visit the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama: https://www.feedingal.org/
