Now that's what I call garnish!

Check out this awesome garnish from Victoria Damato-Moran at the 42 Below vodka competition:

The gallery of shakerface

I love the faces people make when they shake cocktails- everyone has their own style. My favorite shakerface of all time is that of Tony Abou-Ganim, who gnashes his teeth and make an orgasmic sound every time he's got a shaker in his hands. He makes it sound like he Just Can't Wait to get that drink in the glass. Last night I judged a 21 Below vodka competition at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco and recorded the shakerface of the contestants. Here are some of the best- click for larger images:

Another day, another cocktail contest

If attending cocktail events is considered having a social life, then I'm the party animal of the century. If not, then... let's not consider that alternative since I don't do anything else. Tonight I helped judge another cocktail contest, this one for Lotus Vodka. This brand is based in San Francisco and has distribution only in Northern California (though they're expanding soon), yet is in 500 venues in the region. 500! I doubt there is any other spirit brand in the nation with that kind of track record, so whatever they're doing, they're doing it right. This one was done secret ingredient style, a la Top Chef. In the first round all eight contestants had half an hour to make a drink with nectarines. (That's my favorite cocktail fruit that I muddle into drinks at home all the time, FYI. Keep that in mind for the next contest.) Each person had to make one drink to present to us. From those drinks we picked three finalists- Ronaldo Colli from Americano, Josh Harris from Pier 23, and Cody Robertson from Lingba Lounge. For the second round, the secret ingredient was peppers- a variety of them. The three finalists each made a tall drink on the rocks and an up drink. Ronaldo Colli made two drinks that were very good, whereas the other two contestants each made one drink that was extraordinary and another drink that was... not so good. The third place winner (Josh Harris) was only two points out of 400 away from our second place winner (Cody Robertson), so it was more of a tie. This means Ronaldo Colli took home yet another trophy from another cocktail contest! Dude wins these things constantly and deservedly. Congratulations to Ronaldo and thanks to all the contestants for filling my social calendar with night after night of delicious drinks. More pics here.

How to make a gin and tonic, if you have a lot of time and chemical equipment on your hands

Tonight I stopped into the Martin Miller's Gin & Tonic competition at Beretta. The winner of the event was Jennifer Colliau of Slanted Door, who had some sort of bitters frozen into ice that slowly changed the flavor of the drink as it melted. Clever. But the most interesting drink was designed by Joe Parrilli who works at Bacar. To make his drink, all you need to do is: 1. Make some dehydrated lime slices 2. Create spheres of tonic with gold cake decoration using molecular mixology techniques 3. Make some gelatin gin and tonic 4. Carbonate some gin 5. Assemble the drink and enjoy So go ahead, it's easy!

Chartreuse on the loose

This week I helped judge a Chartreuse cocktail competition- tough job! Bartenders love making cocktails with the stuff, and I love drinking said cocktails. With my fellow judges Johnny Raglin of Absinthe and Carlos Yturria of Bacar/Grand Pu Bah I think we were in complete agreement with our top choices. Joel Baker of Bourbon & Branch made a phenomenal drink with Yellow Chartreuse, Manzanilla sherry, lemon, peach, and basil, but unfortunately he lost points for going past the time limit (such a perfectionist). Steven Liles of (is it Boulevard?) combined Yellow Chartreuse, St. Germain, gin, lemon, sugar, and cucumber with a lemon verbena garnish that was messy but delicious. Camber Lay of Epic pretty much always brings the thunder and her drink (pictured) with rose geranium, gin, lemon, lime, peach, Szechuan peppercorn, and Green Chartreuse was terrific. If they'd only let her bring her fruit dehydrator who knows what would have happened. And the big winner for the day was H. Ehrmann of Elixir, who combined bourbon, Green Chartreuse, muddled cherries, lavender, and vermouth, sort of like a sweet Chartreuse-cherry-lavender Manhattan. I don't know how it worked, but it totally did. Lavender? Congratulations to the winners.

More winners

After the USBG competition, many of SF's bartenders headed over to the Averna competition at Cantina. There two local bartenders won a trip to Italy to compete in the finals: Thomas Waugh from Alembic and Jeff Hollinger of Absinthe, who was not actually at the competition but had his drink made my Jackie Patterson of Orson. Congrats, people.

Regional Winner

Congratulations to Carlos Yturria, who won the United States Bartending Guild regional qualifier today at Conduit against about 20 other bartenders from as far away as Sacramento. Carlos will be competing in the USBG national competition in Long Beach in May.

SF Spirits Competition Winners

Taken from the press release, here are winners of the SF World Spirits Competition for 2008:

"Best in Show-White,"  Weber Haus, Silver Cachaca, Brazil,
"Best in Show-Whisk(e)y" Highland Park, 12-year-old Single Malt Scotch,
"Best in Show-Brandy," Loujan, 1979 Armagnac, Bas Armagnac, France
"Best in Show-Liqueur" Domaine de Canton, Ginger Liqueur, France

"Top Absinthe" Vieux Pontarlier Absinthe
"Top Vodka," Snow Queen Vodka
"Top Gin" Plymouth Gin
"Best Rum" Matusalem Rum
"Top Tequila" AsomBroso Silver Tequila
"Top Reposado Tequila" El Tesoro
"Top Anejo Tequila"  Siete Leguas
"Top Extra-Aged Anejo Tequila"  Don Julio
"Top Irish Whiskey"  Jameson, Rare Vintage Irish Whiskey
"Top North American Whisk(e)y." Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey
"Top Blended Scotch," Chivas Regal, 25 Year Old Scotch
"Top Bourbon" Pappy Van Winkle, Kentucky Straight Bourbon
"Top Cognac" Hennessy Cognac Paradis Extra
"Top Fruit Liqueur" Cointreau Orange Liqueur

Bay Area winners at Vegas Bar Show

At the Las Vegas Nightclub and Bar show last week Bay Area and other bartenders from around the country competed in the Battle of the Mixologists competition. Out of 29 competitors, two locals were chosen to be in the five finalists: Victoria Damato-Moran of various spots in SF, and Manny Hinojosa of the Walnut Creek Yacht Club. Funnily enough, these two competed in a previous cocktail competition in San Francisco and came in first and second place. In Las Vegas, Manny Hinojosa once again took home the top prize of $5,000 bucks. Well, he won five thousand bucks anyway. Given that the event was in Las Vegas you never know if any of it made it home.

Local bartender makes good

It looks like Neya White of NOPA in San Francisco is the sole US contender in the "Bols Around the World" competition. As incentive for going here to vote for him, you could win a trip to Amsterdam for filling in your info. He probably needs an escort anyway.

Mixology Summit

Hey bartenders- here's another contest of sorts. You can apply to become one of 100 weekend consultants at the Grand Marnier/Navan Mixology Summit in Vail, CO this March. They pay $1200 for your opinions but you have to pay airfare and two nights hotel. So they money isn't extraordinary but 100 bartenders staying in the same hotel sounds like one hell of a party. Details are here.

Holland gin

Congrats to the SF winners of the Damrak gin contest. They get a trip to Holland. From the press release:

In San Francisco, the top three winners at the Rye bar event were: First place—Micah Wilder from Bambuddah Lounge with the Lycheetini, Second place--Alicia Walton from Martunis with the Dam Good Martini and Third place—Amanda Washington from Rye with The Damsel.

Stuff It

Hey professional bartenders (and chefs)- here's a contest I haven't heard getting much publicity. (But then again, I haven't been reading much lately.) Chopin vodka is having an olive stuffing contest (as in, create a stuffing, not a speed of pimento insertion contest) with a big fat prize of nothing but publicity for you and your bar. Still, I've had plenty of tasty olives in my cocktails with interesting stuffing and brine, so you may as well get some recognition for your effort. Winners get into Chopin's CEO Recipe Book, Wine Spectator Magazine, and Food Arts.

What to get me for Christmas this year

Anything on this list would do just fine. Also, I'm not Christian so there's no need to wait.

Snob versus Snob

Here's a great idea: Sam's Wine & Spirits in Chicago is sponsoring an "Ultimate Wine IQ Challenge" to see which consumer knows the most about wine. The winner of the multi-month contest earns a $1,000 shopping spree at the store. I would love to see the final contest, and I would especially love to see it get really, really nasty. Wait a minute, has anybody done a wine IQ challenge on the Food Network, or a wine snob reality show, or a show where people have to harvest, produce, and blend their own wine with the winner getting their name on the label? Watching wine snobs pitted against each other would probably be the thing that finally inspires me to get cable.

Bargain Booze

The Beverage Tasting Institute (wouldn't that be sweet to have on your business card?) held a Best Buy Bar competition, where they rated low-priced liquor. This is a great idea- all we hear about are the newer, most expensive brands of booze that are impractical to drink every day. Read the intro and links to all the winners here, or read the overall winners here. As far as brands you've actually heard of, some winners were Svedka vodka , Old Forester bourbon, Smirnoff Lime vodka, and The Famous Grouse blended scotch whisky. This would be a great list to take with you on your next visit to the beverage warehouse store.