Benjamin Schiller of BOKA. Photo: Ben Reed

It was a battle of the titans last night at Landmark, as the Violet Hour’s Steven Cole faced off against Benjamin Schiller, who recently left In Fine Spirits to oversee the cocktail program at BOKA (and whom we recently profiled as one of Chicago’s six bartenders to watch), in the first round of the Final Four of the Sweet 16 of Mixology that has been going strong all summer long. Both of these ridiculously talented dudes made gin cocktails, and these were two of the best drinks I’ve had in some time. Cole’s was bolder, with a punch of ginger, and Schiller’s was subtler, with a note of pine that gave it a compelling fall-ness. [Each attendee at the free event receives one of each of the cocktails, and they were also both fairly, umm, strong, so any other attendees from last night who didn't go out to two other bars afterward may want to weigh in in the comments section.... if they can remember anything] It was an incredibly tough call, but my vote went to Schiller, who ended up winning the popular and guest judge (Jam owner Jerry Suqi) vote by a very small margin. Schiller will advance to the finals, slated for November 11 at Landmark. His opponent will be determined on Oct 21, when The Drawing Room’s Charles Joly faces off against an unexpected finalist: Zach Friedlander of Relax Lounge.