Kiwi Bartenders Get Gongs At The 42 Below

Kiwi Bartenders Get Gongs At The 42 Below Cocktail World Cup

Viagra, oysters, tobacco, yams and hot posset on the menu at the planet’s most extraordinary cocktail competition

Queenstown, 16 September 2006 – New Zealand bartenders put in a mind-blowing performance at the third annual 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup in Queenstown today, in a thrilling competition that saw cocktail creativity reach new heights.

42 bartenders from the best bars on the planet have spent a week preparing for today’s grand final, undertaking Extreme Cocktail Challenges such as shaking a Cosmopolitan while bungy-jumping, creating a mystery cocktail on top of the Remarkables in a helicopter and attempting to mix a drink on the Shotover Jet. However, 85% of the final score came down to each team’s shake-off performance on an ice bar at Earnslaw Park this afternoon, hosted by NZ Idol presenter Dominic Bowden in front of a huge crowd.

Ingredients ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous – local ingredients such as 42 BELOW Vodka, SOUTH Gin, Central Otago wines and Kiwi botanicals featured heavily, as well as bizarre additions such as tobacco and oak smoke syrup, toasted pinecones from the spur on the Remarkables, and the Dubai team’s supposed ‘viagra salsa’. Eccentric methods dazzled the judges, from USA East using ladies’ pantyhose as a strainer, yam sculptures from Central America, the Europejavascript:SetCmd(cmdSend);
Send team’s juggling of flaming vodka bottles, molecular mixology with lemongrass reduction and calcium chloride by North East Asian and red hot pokers from the winning team.

The Cup was won by the UK London 2 team (above), scoring a historic victory with the first hot cocktail ever to win the competition. Their ‘Friar Briars’ Sack Posset’ was based on a medieval drink called a posset, popular in the Middle Ages for its warming, medicinal properties. The UK London 2 team updated it for the 21st century by including New Zealand’s 42 BELOW Manuka Honey vodka, Tahiti Dark rum and Speight’s Old Dark Ale. (Full recipes follow.)

The New Zealand ProFlow Tenders team (left) placed second with a cocktail called ‘Queen For A Day’. Kelly-Jayne Ferr (from Boulot in Wellington), Glenn ‘Tricky Dickie’ Cullimore (from Christchurch’s Lime Bar) and Anita Ong (from Dunedin’s Di Lusso). The drink focused on locally-sourced ingredients including New Zealand’s own SOUTH Gin, a homemade cherry compote with Otago cherry blossom, and a Central Otago pinot noir.

In third place was the USA East Coast team, who created a unique ‘Oyster Mary Martini’, containing a fresh Bluff oyster, tomato and garlic flower water strained through a ‘local lady’s pantihose’, limoncello sorbet and a basil, celeriac and Togayashi chilli-infused 42 BELOW Vodka.

The 42 contestants were judged by an international panel of experts, including Peter Dorelli, head barman at the Savoy for more than 20 years; Alex Kammerling, London’s hottest celebrity mixologist and BBC star; Kiwi TV star Jaquie Brown and the NZ Bartender of the Year, Simon McGoram.

Peter Dorelli, the acknowledged godfather of cocktails, says, “I’ve been to many cocktail competitions, but nothing like the 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup – this is what it’s all about. The levels of creativity I’ve seen today and during the rest of this week here in Queenstown is incredible. I can retire happy now – the future of bartending is in great hands.”

42 BELOW chief vodka bloke Geoff Ross says, “This year marks the 200th anniversary of the cocktail, and the culture has never been more vibrant – we’re witnessing the cocktail’s second coming. Mixologists all over the world are pushing new boundaries while recognising the importance of the classics.

“The vision behind the 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup is to bring together the best bartending brains in the business and create the finest cocktails on the planet. Yet again our 42 contestants have left us utterly amazed by the standards they’ve achieved.”

For further information, please contact:
Jen Ferguson, Pead PR, 021 610 788, jen@peadpr.co.nz or see www.cocktailworldcup.com
High-res images from throughout the competition are downloadable at www.42below.com/cwc06

FRIAR BRIARS’ SACK POSSET – UK London 2’s winning recipe
2 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon honey
80ml cream
80ml 42 Below Manuka Honey Vodka
80ml Speights Old Dark Ale
20ml Tahiti Dark
5ml Benedictine
Dash Angostura bitters
Whisk all ingredients and warm on a stove, then char with a red hot poker. Serve in a teacup.

QUEEN FOR A DAY - New Zealand ProFlow Mixers’s 2nd-place recipe

40ml SOUTH Gin
10 ml Pimms
15ml Stoneridge 2003 Pinot Noir
10ml Maraschino Liqueur
15ml Spiced cherry compote

Stirred and strained into a chilled martini glass, served with a cherry blossom and sorbet refresher on the side.

OYSTER MARY MARTINI – USA East Coast’s 3rd-place recipe

Limoncello sorbet
1¾oz vine-ripened New Zealand tomato, basil, celeriac and Togayashi-chilli-infused 42 BELOW Vodka
3oz tomato and garlic flower water

Stirred over ice into chilled martini and garnished with a fresh New Zealand oyster.

About 42 BELOW
42 BELOW makes some of the planet’s finest super-premium spirits. 42 BELOW Vodka, SOUTH Gin and Seven Tiki White Rum are made 42 degrees below the equator near a location that holds the benchmark for both air and water purity. The super-premium spirits company was listed in first place in the Deloitte Unlimited Fast 50 2005, and named the fastest-growing company in New Zealand. 42 BELOW is the world’s most awarded vodka, scoring a ‘Grand Slam’ clean sweep in 2006 with gold at all four of the world’s leading spirit competitions. It is served in more than 4,500 of the world’s best bars, including the Ritz in London and the best restaurant on earth, El Bulli in Spain.

Ends

© Scoop Media