Earth Hour a great reason to drink by candlelight

Living Room at the W Scottsdale Hotel. (Credit: Michael McNamara/azcentral.com)

The fact that you can enjoy cocktails in the semi-darkness is one of the things I find so alluring about drinking.

Everyone looks good in candlelight. I mean, you never hear about anyone getting engaged in a cafeteria.

So it makes sense that two of Scottsdale's best places for cocktails are turning off the lights Saturday night as part of Earth Hour 2009.

Earth Hour is a two-year-old international initiative started by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness about climate change and to remind people to turn off non-essential electronics.

The W Scottsdale Hotel & Residences and Canal Restaurant will be turning off the lights Saturday night from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.

The W, which will even be darkening its exterior signage, will serve an environmentally themed cocktail in the Living Room lobby bar and will donate a percentage of the $10 price to the Arbor Day Foundation.

Bar manager Tom Georges created the drink with Revolution 3D Green Apple White Tea, UK5 Organic vodka and simple syrup.

Canal is not serving a special drink, but seeing the place in the darkness could be pretty compelling. On a normal night, the restaurant is totally defined by light, from the glowing fashion runway that snakes through the room to the video wall to the dramatic fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

These are just two small venues joining countless others in more than 1,858 cities and towns in 81 countries that are participating in this year's Earth Hour, according to the organization's Web site, earthhour.org.

Details: Earth Hour at the W | Earth Hour at Canal