Let me set the stage for you all about this competition. This was 28 of the best bartenders in the city of Minneapolis. Johnny Michaels, Richie Rivera, Nick Kosevich etc. -- basically the "who's who" in downtown when it comes to mixology and crafting amazing cocktails. Johnny won this event last year and is the King when it comes to mixology in Minneapolis, Richie does crazy culinary shit with his drinks, and Nick....well Nick does things that I've never seen before with his cocktails and his knowledge about spirits are unparalleled and the list could go on and on with the level of talent that was participating in this competition. I felt confident and prepared to deliver one hell of a cocktail and was not intimidated by any of the big hitters...humbled and honored but not intimidated!
The judge was none other than Milo Rodriguez, a master mixologist from the UK that is representing Bombay Sapphire. Google Milo Rodriguez and look at his resume.....it's off the charts! Among other local and nation wide critics that were probing and asking questions about you and your cocktail. A pretty humbling atmosphere to say the least.
Who do I get paired with at my table?.....Nick Kosevich from Town Talk Diner! Are you kidding me?!? Yes, that Nick Kosevich that just won my Iron Bartender competition 3 months ago! Great!! We're friends so the night was all in good fun and spirit! To top it off I was in the first spot to be judged and Nick was second in line. So whatever Milo was judging on, we were setting the bar for others to beat or match.......so the pressure is on full court press.
The drink I prepared was a version of a Gin Rickey I learned while living on the West Coast. So I felt compelled to bring the west coast to the midwest for an evening. A Gin Rickey basically is a classic gin cocktail that has gin, lime juice and soda water....that's it. Here's is what I did to the Gin Rickey... I found some French cherries that were brandied and took them out of the brandy and placed them in a equal parts cognac and kirsch combination to bring an added layer of flavor to the cherries. French cherries are a lot different than your regular maraschino cherries you see at 99.9% of the bars. French cherries are much more firmer, have a darker hue or color to them, and they are tart not sweet and syrupie like maraschino's are. So I took 5-6 cherries and placed them in the bottom of a mixing glass and covered them with granulated sugar. I also have a misto mister (stainless steel pump can, that is used for olive oil mainly) that has 50% angostura bitters and 50% Bacard 151 Rum. I take the misto and brulee the cherries with the angostura bitter/151 mixture.....yes brulee (carmalize the cherries with fire!!!). After about a 15-20 second brulee, I add 1 tablespoon of Rosewater, 1 half of a lime that I then juice on the spot, and 3 oz. of Sapphire Gin. Give a light muddle, and shake the hell out of it. Strain into a collins glass filled with ice and top with about 2 oz. of bottled soda water. Garnish was a silver spoon that I drilled a hole through and skewered a brandied cherry through the hole to give the Spoonbridge and Cherry effect to the drink....thus the name of my cocktail .... Spoonbridge and Cherry Gin Rickey.
Milo Rodriguez appears to love my drink. Asking me all the right questions; my inspiration, about the ingredients I used, my technique the whole gamet. He leaves my station after about 7 minutes of me making my drink and talking about it and I feel great. The drink is perfect, the explanation of my drink is perfect, he (Milo) seems to like it asking me all about the drink and my bartending technique blah blah blah .... and goes to Nick's side of the table and I know his drink is phenomenal ... it's the Green Fairy -- my personal favorite drink in the city of Minneapolis!! Milo then spends just as much time with Nick as he did with me. Now we're both done and have the chance to go "mingle" with everyone else now. Everyone's cocktails are amazing. Taste, appearance, unique everything. My confidence level now has slipped a bit once I start weighing my competition. Whatever, I'm honored to even be in the same competition with all this talent in one place!
Long story longer, time to announce the results....... Milo goes on about how tough second and first place was to decide .. second place goes to.......... Jesse from OM! That's right.....me!! I was absolutely floored! I knew I had a great cocktail and I gave it my all but I had no idea that it had defeated 27 other talented mixologists! Nick took home the 1st place trophy....of course, but I'm totally happy with my showing. Yes, Nick gets to go to Vegas....again, but I gained some cred within the Minneapolis bar scene with my cocktail and growing following. And to that I am humbled and honored. Great competition and can't wait for the next one! Cheers to all whom participated and supports us in our chosen profession and craft.
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