The Bartenders Society Cocktail Competition brings bartenders from all over the globe together to compete for the title, Best Bartender.
The U.S. Qualifier Competition is the gateway to compete in the Global Finals held in Paris, France in November 2023. Each bartender must create a unique cocktail inspired by the theme: Bringing a Local Twist to a Classic Cocktail from the Past.
The U.S. Finals will determine the two (2) U.S. Finalists who will represent the U.S. in the Paris, France, Global Finals in November 2023.
U.S. Qualifier Competition Prizes
1st Place: Two bartenders win a trip to France to compete in the Global Finals
2nd Place: Two bartenders win $500 each.
3rd Place: Two bartenders win $250 each.
Global Finals
The Grand Prize Winner wins a trip for two to Martinique and $2000 cash plus one year of press and digital promotion.
After receiving hundreds of entries, Check Out the 11 Semi-Finalists in the Bartenders Society Cocktail Competition. Congratulations and thank you to all the bartenders who entered, we hope you try again next year.
Amy Windland
While there are many things that I thought of pairing alongside Saint James Rum and Marie Brizard Spirits that are unique to my home of South Carolina, one thing stands out as a staple of life here, and that is Sweet Tea. South Carolina is the only state that has its own tea farm and tea processing business all in one location. They proudly give tours where you can learn their history as well as how tea is produced. I wanted to feature the Tea of Charleston Tea Company, as I think supporting local businesses and farms are important to our local economy.
My drink gets its inspiration from the Ramos Gin Fizz, a classic that was created in the 1880’s by Henry Charles Ramos. His drink featured Old Tom Gin, citrus, egg white, orange blossom water, cream, a whole lot of shaking, and some club soda. While I have used his drink as a reference point, I do not employ the 12 minutes shake. It is unnecessary when the drink is wet shaken, followed by dry, poured over your soda, and allowed to rest in a chilled glass for a period before adding the final portion of the soda. While giving a nod to our classic creators of cocktails is important, creative techniques can be employed to shorten the length of time that a drink needs to be made.
While trying to decide what type of drink I would be making, I tried to think if I had ever seen a rum subbed in for a Ramos fizz before, and that is why I decided to experiment with the Saint James White to see if the rum paired well with that style of cocktail. To my delight it did! It really gives the rums earthy terroir flavors a chance to shine alongside the fruity flavors found in the Marie Brizard Passion Fruit and Orange Curacao. What the Fizz is tropical and refreshing.
What the Fizz?
Ingredients:
- 1 oz St James white 55%
- 1/2 oz Marie Brizard Passion fruit
- 1/2 oz Marie Brizard Orange Curacao
- 1 oz Freah Squeezed Lemon Juice
- 1 oz Charleston Tea Syrup*
- 3/4 oz Fresh Egg White
- 2 dashes of Orange Bitters
- 2oz Coco Rico Coconut Soda Split
Preparation: Combine all ingredients, except Coco Rico Coconut Soda in a shaker tin with a few large cubes of ice. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds. Strain drink into one side of the tin and discard the used ice. Reshake the cocktail without ice for another 40 seconds to cause the drink to form a meringue. When the drink has become fluffy in your tin, pull out a chilled glass without ice, and pour half of your cold Coco Rico in the bottom of the glass. At this time, you may pour the contents of your shaker tin over the soda. It will fluff up and stiffen if allowed to sit for at least a minute, even better for 2 minutes. Then slowly pour the soda over the cocktail to create a lifting effect of the meringue. Garnish with a straw.
*Charleston Tea Syrup
Combine 1 cup boiling water with one cup granulated sugar in saucepan over high heat, stir to combine. Once sugar is melted in the water, add two heaping tablespoons of Charleston Tea Company Breakfast loose leaf tea into the simple syrup. Pull away from heat and allow that tea to steep in the syrup for 7-8 minutes before straining through fine mesh strainer. Store in fridge for up to 3 days. Recipe can be multiplied for larger volume service.
Jenna Athey
Forever a fan of sours I chose to put a twist on a rum sour. When my samples arrived, I couldn’t get over the nose on Marie Brizard’s Peach Liqueur. It reminded me of canned peaches I used to snack on growing up, and the cobblers my mom and Great Aunt could whip up year-round. This cocktail manages to remind you of a peach cobbler; with Saint James Rhum Vieux’s spice notes, its nutty orgeat and a touch of cinnamon. However, unlike most dessert style cocktails, were not stirring, but rather shaking in the acidity of lemon juice and creating a somewhat refreshing reminder of something luxurious like dessert.
Most people aren’t aware that the peach was one of America’s first invasive species. In 1539, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto arrived with 600 men to the Tampa Bay Area. With them they brought two core Southern staples: hogs and peaches. However, these two gifts came with a grave cost. Hernando de Soto and his men introduced a multitude of new diseases that went on to wipe out multiple tribes of Native Americans in the area. Which is where the name for my cocktail originates. Much like Eve with her apple, the peach came at a great cost.
Forbidden Fruit
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Saint James Rhum Vieux
- 1/4 oz Cinnamon Simple Syrup*
- 1/4 oz Homemade Orgeat**
- 1/2 oz Marie Brizard Peach Liqueur
- 3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
Preparation: Combine all ingredients in a tin, shake vigorously, and strain over fresh ice.
*Cinnamon syrup
Using Florida Cane Sugar combine 1cup of sugar and 1cup of water over heat. Once sugar has dissolved add 4-6 cinnamon sticks, remove from heat, cover, and allow to steep for two hours. **Homemade Orgeat- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet, take one cup of whole raw almonds and spread them out to form a single layer. Once the oven is heated, place baking sheet in oven for five minutes. Allow almonds to cool (5-7 minutes) and add to a course food processer—you want them chopped down, but not pulverized.
In a large bowl add 1.5 cups of warm distilled water and let soak for 2-3 hours. With a fine strainer and cheese cloth, separate out the liquid. Put liquid into a pan over medium heat. Stir in one cup of sugar, once dissolved remove from heat. (If there are still almond particles floating around and you can strain through cheesecloth again) Once cool, add in half teaspoon of orange flower water. Once cool, bottle it up in the fridge and use in cocktails. Garnish with cinnamon rim (use honey water to stick), fresh sliced peach .
Norton Christopher
I received Saint James VSOP, along with the anisette, apricot, and cherry liqueurs. The flavor profile instantly made me think of fall harvest. Since we are soon to be walking into that time of year, I was inspired to utilize the whole “chopped” basket of samples to make a cocktail with familiar early fall flavors and spice, while maintaining a lighter body with balanced acids that makes it easily drinkable in the dog days of summer. Saint James VSOP served as the base of the cocktail with a nice soft richness that wouldn’t overpower the fruit, and woody characteristics that would pair well with the other flavors to create additional layers in the cocktail. I poured equal amounts of apricot, cherry, and anisette liqueurs to represent the body of the harvest.
I utilized pineapple acid for roundness, citrus acids for brightness and lift, and plums for the body and full spectrum of acidity. I used equal amounts of under ripe, ripe, and over ripe fruits to get the desired acid levels. Brown sugar = fall richness all day, while Angostura bitters is the fall spice of the night. The carrot juice adds a natural earthy sweetness that pairs well with the soft woody tones of Saint James VSOP. Additionally, the thyme adds to this soft, earthy element without getting too rustic or overpowering for the time of year. The chamoy lends itself as a sweet and savory seesaw and adds a unique depth, while the Kajian completes the cocktail with a kick of sea salt and spice. At its core this cocktail is loosely based on the swizzle with a touch of rum punch!
Plum Happy
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Saint James VSOP
- 1/4 oz Marie Brizard Apricot
- 1/4 oz Marie Brizard Anisette
- 1/4 oz Marie Brizard Cherry
- 1 1/2 oz Plum juice (medium acidity) (**set aside extra juice for foam)
- 1 oz Pineapple juice
- 1/2 oz Carrot juice
- 1/2 oz Brown sugar syrup 1:1
- 1/2 oz lemon
- 1/2 oz lime
- 3 dashes Angostura bitters
Preparation: Add all ingredients into small shaker, fill with ice, shake until homogenized, and double strain into spice rimmed rocks glass with large format cube. Garnish with herb bundle using butcher string. Vigorously stir plum juice that was set aside. Use a large spoon to scoop off foam from top of juice and gently dollop on top of cocktail. Garnish with Pineapple blade, thyme sprig bundle | Chamoy and Kajian (sub-Tajin).
Heidi Wittekind
I am a California girl through and through, and aside from the incredibly diverse landscapes, one of my favorite things about California is how fertile she is… everything grows here! In Southern California specifically, so many homes have plentiful fruit trees in both their front and back yards. We’ve all seen the “Free Little Libraries” peppering the streets of LA, but in Atwater Village, the local real estate company has a “leave one, take one” fruit stand and they will come pick any unwanted fruit from your trees for free!
With food prices continuing to soar, why do we all let so much FREE food go to waste?! If neighborhoods throughout the city connected a little more, there would be so much free, healthy fruit to go around. My friend’s passionfruit vines explode with way more passionfruit than they could ever hope to consume, and I have friends with every kind of citrus tree imaginable, a lot of which never get picked. My absolute favorite rum cocktail is the Hotel Nacional, and I think Hemingway would enjoy this social fruit inspired version just as much as the original!
Hotel California
Ingredients:
- 1/2 oz Marie Brizard passion fruit
- 1 1/2 oz Saint James 55% Rhum
- 3/4 oz lime juice
- 1 oz pineapple juice
- 1/2 oz simple syrup
- 1 dash orange bitters
Preparation: Juice lime and pineapple fresh. Add all ingredients to tin, fill tin with ice, long hard shake, double strain into coupe. Garnish with Marie Brizard yuzu “air”* fragrant citrus leaf.
*Marie Brizzard Yuzu “Air”
- 225g Marie brizzard yuzu
- 100g filtered water
- 15g 30% white simple
- 2.5g sucrose esters
Preparation: Combine ingredients in plastic container, immersion blend until bubbles form. Let sit for 1 minute then scoop on top of cocktail w/a julep strainer.
Rylen Komeiji
The inspiration for my cocktail is a classic Daiquiri. I personally love Daiquiris and even more so when you feature an Agricole rum as the base. While I am currently living in Las Vegas, I am originally from Hawaii. I wanted to use a combination of local flavors from my home (coconut) and from my culture (yuzu). Anytime someone thinks of Hawaii and tropical drinks, they think of either a Mai Tai or a Pina Colada.
I wanted to showcase that coconut can be used in another delicious tropical drink besides a Pina Colada. The pandan adds an earthy coconut flavor which I then helped to accentuate with a small addition of coconut cream. The combination of Marie Brizard Yuzu Syrup and fresh yuzu juice adds both a touch of sweetness and delightful acidity to the cocktail, while also giving the classic daiquiri a little more depth.
Yuzu Fine You Blow My Mind
Ingredients:
- 2 oz St James Fleur de Canne (substitute Imperial Blanc 40%)
- 1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
- 1/2 oz Marie Brizard Yuzu
- 1/4oz Fresh Yuzu Juice
- 1/2 oz Pandan Syrup*
- 1/4 oz Coconut Cream
Preparation: Add all ingredients to shaker tin. Shake to incorporate all ingredients, chill and dilute. Strain into Double Old-Fashioned glass over a large cube. Garnish with a Fresh Pandan Leaf. *Pandan Syrup: Add 500ml purified water and 500ml sugar to bag, vacuum seal. Sous-vide for 30 minutes or until all sugar has dissolved. Remove from bag and steep 4 6inch long pieces of pandan leaf for 24hrs in refrigeration. Remove leaves from syrup and fine strain to remove any debris. Garnish with Pandan Leaf.
Jeremiah Simmons
I really wanted to make a nice fun summer version of a classic New Orleans cocktail, the De La Louisiane. I split based the St. James rum with rye to bring a bit of that rye bite in to balance with the sweetness of the rum. Then to keep it nice and light I swapped out the sweet vermouth with Marie Brizard Pear Williams. I’m a big fan of pear and chicory (a traditional NOLA ingredient) so I wanted to bring that flavor pairing into this cocktail.
Poire de la Louisiane
Ingredients:
- 1 oz St. James Vieux
- 1 oz Rye Whiskey (I used Templeton 6 year)
- 1/2 oz Marie Brizard Pear Williams Liqueur
- 1/2 oz Benedictine
- 3 dashes Marie Brizard Anisette Liqueur
- 3 dashes of Peychaud’s and Chicory bitters Blend (1:1)
- 2 drops of saline solution
Preparation: Mix all ingredients in mixing glass Strain into chilled Nick and Nora glass, Garnish with grilled pear slices.
Robin Wolf
My hometown in California boasts one of the most popular Farmer’s Markets in the country. Every Thursday night, farmers, growers, bakers, chefs, musicians, and craftspeople from all around the area come to offer the bounty of the season from their stalls. Since childhood, the colors, smells, and energy have captivated and inspired me.
Every cocktail I create is a nod to the local and seasonal offerings of the land around me. I believe that terroir applies not only to wine, but to every plate and glass served to my guests. The best drinks evoke a time and place as much as a flavor. The inclusion of fresh local carrot juice – with its bright color and subtle earthy sweetness – complements the bold sweetness of St. James Rum, with its fruity notes of fresh sugar cane. The spice in the ginger beer echoes its subtle black pepper spice, and the addition of Marie Brizard Apry with its bright fruit and acid, rounds out this version of a Mule cocktail perfectly. The fresh garden dill tops it all off with a savory herbal punch, and incredible earthy freshness.
White Rabbit
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz Saint James imperial Blanc 40% Rum
- 1/2 oz Marie Brizard Apry liqueur
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 oz Turbinado syrup
- 3/4 oz fresh carrot juice
- Sprig fresh dill
- Ginger Beer
Preparation: Combine all (reserve ginger beer) in shaker with ice. Shake and strain over fresh ice, top with ginger beer and stir gently. Garnish with fresh dill bunch.
Jonathan Stanyard
On Your Feet is a reimagined way to serve the classic cocktail, the Hemingway Daiquiri. The original recipe is a rum-laced treat with grapefruit, cherry, and lime. My first focus was adding other flavors that represented my home but would co-exist perfectly in this cocktail. I used Marie Brizard Apry instead of the Maraschino Cherry liqueur for a touch of my childhood and being from Northern California. I had an apricot tree in our yard growing up, and they will always bring me back to my childhood home. The choice of using this flavor was simple. Apricots, like cherries, are part of the prunus genus family, all commonly called “stone fruits,” and share similar flavor profiles.
My next idea was to bring my home for the past decade, Seattle, and the Pacific Northwest, into the glass. Two of my favorite spring and summertime local flavors are strawberries and rhubarb. I used them in two ways; fresh and bright rhubarb juice in the cocktail and a strawberry rhubarb shrub in a foam to top the drink. The core of the cocktail is the Saint James Rhum Paille, which is softly aged for a year, carrying notes of honey, vanilla, and dried fruits. With the current trends in Seattle bars, you will always find a clarified milk punch on a cocktail bar’s menu.
So, I followed the local vibe, clarified this modern and local twist on the Hemingway Daiquiri, and finished with an aromatic and locally flavored foam, giving the cocktail texture. I garnished it with dehydrated fruit for a sustainable and shelf-stable option. The “On Your Feet” comes from the exciting fact that Hemingway was known to write while standing up. He would rock from foot to foot, writing his next intriguing story and sipping his dry and crisp Daiquiris. Ernest, this one is for you; cheers, You legend!
On Your Feet
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Saint James Rhum Paille
- 3/4 oz Marie Brizard Apry
- 1 oz Fresh Grapefruit Juice
- 1/2 oz Fresh Rhubarb Juice
- 1/2 oz Fresh Lime Juice
- 1/4 oz Simple Syrup
- 1 1/2 oz Whole Milk (clarifying agent)
- Top with Strawberry-Rhubarb Foam*
Preparation: How to make the clarified cocktail: Combine the Saint James Rhum, Marie Brizard Apry, three juices, and simple syrup in a glass and stir to mix. Add the whole milk to another container, then slowly pour the cocktail into the milk. Stir to combine and begin the curdling process. Let this rest for at least 2 hours; overnight is best. After resting and the curdling process has done its work, pour through a fine mesh filter. Then pour through a paper filter. Store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to serve. Garnish with dehydrated strawberry slice and lime wheel.
How to serve the cocktail:
Pour the cold clarified daiquiri into a chilled cocktail glass, gently top with the strawberry-rhubarb foam, and garnish with the strawberry and lime.
*Strawberry-Rhubarb Foam
- 1½ oz Aquafaba
- ¾ oz Strawberry-Rhubarb Shrub**
- ½ oz Marie Brizard Curacao
- ½ oz Cold Water
- Small pinch of soy lecithin
Preparation: Add the ingredient to a mixing glass and froth with a milk frothing wand until a stable foam is achieved. You could also shake in a cocktail shaker or blender bottle.
**Strawberry-Rhubarb Shrub
- 1½ cups diced Strawberries
- 1 cup chopped rhubarb stalks
- 3 Tbsp cane sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- Vanilla Sea Salt
- Apple Cider Vinegar
Preparation: Add strawberries, rhubarb, cane sugar, and water to a saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat. Once simmering, reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, mash the fruit slightly, cover, steep, and let cool. Strain the syrup from the solids using a fine-mesh strainer, do not push the fruit; just move it around and collect as much syrup as possible. Add a generous pinch of vanilla salt (or salt and vanilla extract) and weigh the syrup. Add apple cider vinegar in the amount of 25% of the weight of the syrup. Mix well and transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.
Lance Bowman
I spent most of my time growing up in the landlocked Midwest, but every summer we would go to Louisiana where my grandfather and uncles ran a fishing charter operation. Aside from time with family and memories on the water, the strongest memories were of the people in the slip next to us at the marina, who were, fittingly enough, a group of fishermen from Martinique. We all ended up becoming friends, sharing a lot of time as well as the key influence on my cocktail, food with each other. There I was introduced to the amazing blend of spices in Colombo, or Martinican Creole Curry.
A truly creole mashup of African, Eastern, and French styles and spices I fell in love with the dish and would constantly harass them to make it, and our family even got them to share their recipe for the Colombo spice, a heady blend of spices including fenugreek, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, clove, coriander, and turmeric that we still make to this day. I even incorporate Colombo in a cocktail on my menu today, in a cocktail that is the peak evolution of one of my previous Bartenders Society cocktails and has become as close to perfect as I think I can make a Saint James cocktail. The cocktail is at its core a sour and lends the cocktail part of its name. the classic combination of base spirit, citrus, sugar, and egg, but modernized in technique.
Starting with a healthy measure of the bold and grassy Saint James Blanc 55 expression it stands out and makes it still a definitively Saint James Cocktail, the spice and fruit notes being a perfect complement to the ingredients that follow. It also makes for a lovely tie-in to its origin story, coming from Saint-Marie, a town just a few over from where our harbor neighbors called their home. A bit of Marie Brizard passion fruit plays along perfectly with my inspirational ingredient, the Creole curry spiced passionfruit syrup inspired by the place I spent a formative amount of my childhood, and the second part of the cocktail’s name tying it to some creole roots.
It’s layered and complex spices building something beautiful on the canvas laid down by the Rhum and liqueur. A few dashes of tiki bitters, a couple dashes of my savory umami tincture bind it together, and a generous measure of fresh lime gets us most of the way to the classic sour recipe, but we still need the egg white to make it fit the classical sour definition. This is where I incorporate a modern technique, instead of shaking the drink with an egg white and using the time-consuming double shake I created a foam with the passion fruit syrup, egg white, and lime in an ISI and use that to top the cocktail, making a luxurious, more flavorful, and aromatic, and easier to execute meringue.
Topped with some slightly savory passion fruit pearls it makes something beautiful, with a subtle nod to the cocktail’s origins from the sea. An understated side serve of some creole curried passion fruit “caviar” on a traditional abalone spoon offers a palate cleanser and some flair.
With all these aspects I think I’ve come as close to a perfect cocktail as I can get with something that is true to the core identity of Saint James and The Bartenders Society, an evolution of something I’ve spent years dialing in, and paying a tasteful homage to not just somewhere I came from, but also to Martinique itself and its vibrant creole culture and flavors. This is my “Creole Evolution” something I am beyond proud to submit to The Bartenders Society 2023.
Creole Evolution
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz Saint James Blanc 55
- 1/2 oz Marie Brizard Passion Fruit
- 1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
- 3/4 oz Creole Curry Passion Fruit Syrup*
- 4 dashes Bittermen’s Tiki Bitters
- 2 dash Umami Tincture****
Preparation: Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker tin, add ice and shake. Fine Strain into a coupe glass and top with passion fruit foam from** whip cream siphon and 4 passionfruit pearls.
Garnish: Passion Fruit Foam and “Pearls” side serve curry passionfruit “caviar.”
Glassware: Riedel Drink Specific Sour Glass. Garnish: 4 Passionfruit Pearls***
Side Serve: Caviar Spoon with curried passion fruit “Caviar”
*Colombo (Martinique Creole Curry) Passion Fruit Syrup
In a saucepan combine 1.5L water, 500ml passion fruit puree, and 1.5tsp Colombo spice mix. Bring to a near boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 8minutes. Remove from heat and fine strain through a chinois. Measure volume and add an equal amount of sugar, stir to dissolve.
Colombo Spice Blend: In a pan toast the following spices until aromatic: 1 tsp cumin seed, 1 tsp coriander seed, ½ tsp peppercorn, 1 tbsp mustard seed, 1 tbsp fenugreek seed, 1 whole clove. Allow to cool then then add: 2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp ginger, ½ tsp cinnamon. Grind, and store in an airtight container.
**Passion Fruit Foam
In a container combine 150ml passion fruit syrup from the previous recipe, 150ml lime juice, and 175ml egg white. Pour into a whipped cream siphon, shake well, double charge with n2o, store in refrigerator.
***Passion Fruit Pearls
I make my own through reverse spherification, but for the sake of simplicity you can replicate by combining 150ml of passion fruit boba pearls, 50ml of 10:1 (Water to salt) sea salt solution, and 5ml of Bittermen’s Tiki Bitters and let sit for 24 hours. Strain, and store refrigerated.
****Umami Tincture
In a jar combine: 1L Saint James Blanc 55, 4 grams each dried shitake, maitake, and oyster mushrooms, 25ml fennel, 75ml sea salt, 2g MSG. Shake, and let sit for 72 hours, strain, bottle, label, and date.
Nadine Medina
The cocktail inspiration came from my son and his different cereals. I told him that I remember when I was young eating fruity pebbles and he said I should make a cocktail from it. I thought about the cross between childhood and adulthood. Mixing a fruity pebble tea with alcohol and making it taste like the actual cereal was a great challenge I wanted to try, so I thought about all the flavors that contributed to cereal and how I could execute it in the cocktail.
It reminded me of candy but a grown-up candy! The flower confetti matched the colors so well and the mini cocktail was a great pairing to have the crunch with the citrus but fruity flavor taste with the aroma of lavender spray to tie it in like grape. The flowers come from my garden and are the same as the flowers my mother used to grow when I was little. This cocktail is a modern twist on a rum punch.
Grown Up Candy
Ingredients:
- 2 oz.- St. James Imperial 40% Rhum infused with strawberry and lemongrass
- 1/2 oz. – Marie Brizard Orange Curacao
- 2 oz. – J’enwey Fruity Pebbles Tea
- 1/2 oz. – Fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 oz – Vanilla Simple Syrup 2/1
- 2 drops of Citric Acid
- 5 Dashes Fee Brothers Cherry Bitters
- 2 Dashes Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
Preparation: Method: Prior to mixing, prep glass with vanilla syrup, brush stroke up the side of the glass at an angle and sprinkle edible flower confetti over it. Shake all ingredients except lavender spray into shaker tin with ice until chilled, strain and pour into glass. Attach waffle cone through the loop of the skewer hanging on edge. Garnish with edible flower confetti, fruity pebbles mini cocktail cone, and lavender spray.
Kristina Veltri
The inspiration for my entry comes both from my hometown of Chicago and from the Midwest in general. I have made a fruit forward, umami-layered variation of the classic 20th Century cocktail. Living in Chicago I am surrounded by many different food influences. Specifically, in my west side neighborhood that translates into a variety of Central and South American cuisines. I have chosen to utilize Marie Brizard Passionfruit to pay homage to that influence seen in West Side Chicago and at our lively Latin spirits focused bar Estereo. The chocolate element of this cocktail is inspired by my bike rides to the West Loop, where I worked on restaurant row for 5 years.
If you’ve lived in or been to Chicago near the West Loop, you will be familiar with the heavy scent of chocolate wafting from the Blommer Chocolate Company that makes you laugh and crave an eclair but has visitors asking “Why does it smell like chocolate?”. My final element of inspiration is from my mom’s current home state of Wisconsin. From late spring and into summer she can be found in the hardwood forests foraging for mushrooms on her days off. She mostly forages chanterelles which she dries to use throughout the year. The umami and peppery quality plays with the passionfruit and white cocoa in fun and unexpected ways!
Flashback
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 oz Chanterelle infused Saint James Rhum 110p
- 3/4 oz Marie Brizard Passionfruit
- 1/2 oz Marie Brizard White Cocoa
- 1/2 oz Lillet Blanc
- 1/2 oz Lime
Preparation: Oven-dried Chanterelles: Preheat oven to 170 degrees, place mushrooms on sheet tray in one layer. Bake for 1 hour. Flip mushrooms, bake for 1 more hour or until mushrooms feel completely dry. Add 50g dried mushroom to 1L Saint James Rhum, rest at room temp for 3 days. Strain. Garnish with lime twist and expression.
The post Check Out the 11 Semi-Finalists in the Bartenders Society Cocktail Competition appeared first on Chilled Magazine.
Source: Mixology News
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