Photography by JJ Thompson.

So, let me get this straight, not only do these folks get singled out for being the very best bachelors and bachelorettes that this city has to offer, they also get to host a Grey Goose vodka party for twenty of their nearest and dearest? NO FAIR! 

New this year, the annual event grew in size and cache when Grey Goose stepped in and decided to gift everyone with a private vodka-flowing party in their own homes. What else was buzzworthy at the buzziest of late-Feb events? “Worthy 30 is hitting the road!” Govani announced, and so his worthy knighting will extend to Vancouver and Montreal. (Now that you know the prize, you might want to step up your game.)

The crowd was the usual melange of kiss-kiss society types with shiny hair and impressive small talk skills that range from mid-winter blahs (boooring) to snorkeling with dolphins (oooh!) and the obvious, but always welcomed,  shoe flattery. However, what made this night stick out from usual hobnobbery was the Love Potion, hungry eyes and sloped ceiling. Yes, beyond our usual Dirty-filthy-badass martini, we sipped on Love Potion #8, or Grey Goose La Poire, muddled with raspberries and other aphrodisiastical loveliness. (If I make up words, blame the vodka.) We followed that up with a quick downing/drowning of the Eligible: Grey Goose L’Orange shaken with Limoncello and sweet vermouth. 

Just when we thought our devotion to Grey Goose was perhaps making the room seem unbalanced, someone clarified, “Oooh, a cascading ceiling with Moroccan motif!” We were in Malaparte: or the seventh floor at TIFF Bell Lightbox. I don’t know if Malaparte is a bar or just a malleable space to play with but there was no mistaking that the consistent unspoken language amongst attendees was “Who are you? Are you on the list? Are you really single? Could we maybe have sex?”

Further to press prestige and an intimate fancy piss-up, a certain worthy bachelor was not shy to confess that making the list also gets him laid. I won’t tell you who. But maybe you can guess? (HINT: He’s been on the list before.)

For the rest of us, OK Cupid and a bottle of $7 Farnese will have to do.