Linnaean Libation League Event No. 6: Russian Retreat

According to their website, "Brooklyn Botanic Garden (in collaboration with Flavorpill) presents an evening celebrating the dark magic of the season, inspired by turn-of-the-century Russian parlors and the shadowy forests outside their windows. Music, spirits, and a literary tribute will encourage guests to embrace the forbidding conditions of winter and recognize the season’s bleak beauty.

Guests will arrive to the melancholic strains of Russian folk melodies before enjoying a vodka or a White IPA from Saranac Brewery and nibbling hors d’oeuvres reminiscent of the era—featuring caviar from California Caviar Company on Z Crackers—against the sonic backdrop of a plaintive playlist by Handpicked Music.

At 5 p.m., distinguished writer Lara Vapnyar (There Are Jews in My House, Memoirs of a Muse) will offer a literary tribute to Russia’s great woods—which taken together make up nearly a quarter of the globe’s forest cover—and their dramatic winter landscape. Plus, a member of Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s staff will lead guests in a toast to the horticultural origins of vodka.

Guests are encouraged to arrive clad in the fashion of the empire: long skirts and beards, heavy wool, tall hats, pocket watches, cloaks, laced boots, and embroidery. A photo booth with dusty volumes of poetry, forest trimmings, and other era–appropriate props will help create visual memories of this unforgettable evening."

$30 tickets include two drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Reservations are recommended.