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For the second consecutive year, a panel of judges selected the Four Seasons Hotel Austin's version of “The Batini” during the annual Official Drink of Austin contest. The event celebrates the pairing of two novelties – the nightly flight of the Congress Avenue Bridge bats and Texas’s only distillery.

Austin's Bat Colony

Why is Austin home to so many bats? In 1980, modifications to the Congress Avenue Bridge began attracting migratory Mexican free-tailed bats, eventually making Austin the home to the largest urban bat colony in the world. Each evening at dusk, from late March through October, some 1.5 million bats leave in mass exodus to search for food, consuming 10 to 15 tons of insects each night.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the popularity of the flight contributes to Austin being dubbed the “Bat Capital of America.”

Only Texas Distillery

Since 1995, Tito Beveridge has produced Tito’s Handmade Vodka from Texas' first and only legal distillery. Beveridge’s vodka impresses the most discerning of tastes, winning the 2001 Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirit Competition and beating out such better-known brands as Smirnoff, Stoli, Ketel One and Skyy.

Celebrating its 10 anniversary, Tito’s is still made in small batches in an old-fashioned pot and distilled six times. It was out of this same home-grown spirit that the Batini contest was born.

The Competition

The seven participating hotels – The Four Seasons Hotel Austin, Austin Marriott at the Capitol, Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin, Hilton Austin, Omni Austin Hotel, Hyatt Regency Austin and The Renaissance Austin Hotel shook, stirred and taste-tested until deciding on final submissions for “The Batini.”

Ingredients range from Hill Country peaches and champagne to thyme and Crème de Cacao White. Garnishes include mini-candy caramel apples and fresh lavender.

The Winning Recipe

The Four Seasons Austin Hotel’s concept of “Batini Thyme” is the 2005 Official Drink of Austin:

Batini Thyme

2 ounces Tito's Handmade Vodka "infused" with fresh thyme
1 ounce peach schnapps

Shake ingredients and serve straight up.Garnish with frozen peach slices carved in the shape of bats.

For More Information:

• visit www.austintexas.org

Photo courtesy Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau