Alcademics.com

Hello from France!

As you read this, I should be arriving in Cognac, France with Grey Goose vodka.

I'm here to learn about the product (as well as Bacardi's new D'USSE cognac) and to help judge a cocktail contest: The Grey Goose Ten.

Bartenders from ten countries are competing. They are:

• France - Joseph Biolatto (Bar Le Forum, Paris)
• Brazil - Marcelo Serrano (Brasserie des Arts, Sao Paulo)
• Canada - Jay Jones (Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver)
• China - Yao Lu (The Alchemist, Shanghai)
• India - Nitin Tewari (Bar Consultant, New Delhi)
• Israel - Moshe Budnik (Social Club, Tel Aviv)
• Mexico - Felipe Guajardo Silva (Bar Consultant, Mexico City)
• Puerto Rico - Diego Diaz (Bar Consultant, San Juan)
• UK - Richard Woods (SushiSamba, London)
• US - Emilio Tiburcio (The Light Group, Las Vegas)

I don't think I've met any of these folks before so I'm excited to see what they come up with. 

I'll do my best to update Alcademics.com frequently while I'm there, and as usual you can follow my adventures in real-time at:

- The Alcademics Facebook Page

- The Alcademics twitter account @Alcademics 

The Tahona Society Cocktail Competition in Arandas Mexico

Tuesday night I helped judge the Tahona Society Cocktail Competition here in Arandas, Mexico. The competition (and the Tahona Society in general) was sponsored by Olmeca Altos tequila. My co-judges were Henry Bessant, who helped develop the Olmeca Altos brand, Charles Joly, winner of last year's competition and bar manager at The Aviary in Chicago, and Tomas Estes, owner of the Cafe Pacifico restaurants and Ocho tequila.

Eighteen bartenders from eleven countries competed in the event. What I liked was that nearly every competitor brought an ingredient from their home country to make their cocktails, from a smoky Ukrainian dried fruit syrup to Greek honey to Wisconsin cherry syrup.

Third place went to Sergey Nadson from Russia. He made a simple delicious cocktail, a Tommy's Margarita variation with fresh muddled lemongrass and black pepper.

Second place in the contest was Jason Xue Bin from China. His drink, which was presented on an elaborate tasting matt, was made with hawthorn infused tequila, apricot brandy, lemon and cranberry juice, and simple syrup. He made a cocktail that was truly better than the sum of its parts.

The competition winner was Heinz Kaiser from Austria (I met him at Diageo's World Class competition in 2011 where he took second place). He made a drink Manhattan style with reposado tequila, Cointreau, Carpano Antica vermouth, Damiana liqueur, Bob's Abbott's bitters, Mozart chocolate bitters, and it was presented in silver cups under a cloud of cumin-scented smoke.

For his prize Heinz will get to come back to Mexico and work at the distillery with the master distiller for a week. Jason will get to come back to this contest next year as a competitor.

Well done, all!

 

The Academia da Cachaca in Rio de Janiero, Brazil

When I was in Rio last month covering the Diageo Reserve World Class Global Finals, I had all of half a day to go out and see Rio. I only did the two things I felt were the most essential: had a Caipirinha on the beach...

and went to the Academia da Cachaca. 

The Academia da Cachaca I'll call Rio's most famous cachaca bar, but that's partially because it's the only bar I can name there. It is located several blocks back from Leblon beach and quite a cab ride from Copacabana where we were staying. 

The place itself doesn't stand apart as anything special - it is a covered restaurant at the outside of a mall, with tables reaching out towards the sidewalk. It is split into two parts with a mall walkway in between. The ceiling is decorated with hanging streamers that form the Brazilian flag when seen from afar. 

Not surprisingly given the name, the place is famous for its selection of cachaca. The drink menu lists 11 pages of the stuff with flavor descriptions of each bottle.

I was with a group of seven people so we ordered 14 different cachacas to try. They ranged in flavor profile from olive oily to pisco-grapey to woody to herbaceous- it was a  great way to try a lot of Brazil's native spirit at once. 

The also offer a selection of bottles for sale, so souvenir shopping was easy. 

Report: Third Annual Wine Country Cocktail Competition

California's Wine Country is a big place: some contestants in this year's Wine Country Cocktail Competition drove an hour and a half to get there. I helped judge the competition along with a panel that included Brian Kropf of Mutineer Magazine and radio host and party person Ziggy the Wine Gal. 

The competition was sponsored by the Perfect Puree of Napa Valley, Charbay Distillery & Winery, and Glace Luxury Ice. It was run Iron Chef style, with a secret ingredient announced at the competition. That ingredient was a selection of summer berries. Each contestant also had to include a Charbay vodka, a Perfect Puree flavor, and a Glace ice sphere or big cube in the drink. 

The combination of big ice and puree presented quite the challenge- because of the fruit in the drinks, they'd need to be shaken, but then adding a big ice ball to the drink would continue to dilute the drinks after they were served (on a hot day). Many bartenders ended up with drinks that may have been right at serving time, but that quickly became watery and flabby. Others compensated for the big ice by shaking less or even just stirring the drink, but some of those ended up being too warm.

Overall, the flavors of the drinks were lovely but sometimes the format (up versus on the rocks, etc.) wasn't ideal- another aspect of cocktails that can be hard to determine on the fly. 

The winner of the third annual Wine Country Cocktail Competition was Michael Pazdon of Goose & Gander. Kelly Dallas of SolBar second place and Cappy Sorentino of SpoonBar in third. Congratulations to the winners and to all the entrants. 

 

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 More photos by Ashley Teplin are here. 

Come Join the Wine Country Cocktail Competition on Monday August 6th

I'm helping judge the Wine Country Cocktail Competition in Napa Valley on Monday, August 6th. Tickets are still available to the event, which is sponsored by Charbay Distillery & Winery and Perfect Puree of Napa Valley.

Tickets are available here. Come say hello!

 

Call for Entries: Wine Country Cocktail Competition August 6, 2012

I'm helping judge the third annual Wine Country Cocktail Competition, sponsored by Charbay and Perfect Puree. (That would be California's wine country, in case you were wondering.)

Please see the info in the flier below for contact information to sign up. Hope to see you there!

 

Julien Escot Wins Havana Club International Cocktail Grand Prix 2012

Julien Escot of the bar Papa Doble in Montpellier, France has won the 2012 Havana Club International Cocktail Grand Prix. 

All images provided by Havana Club

Escot beat out 40 bartenders from countries around the world (not including the US due to the embargo) to win the title. The competitors first made drinks in the semi-finals. They had to prepare a twist on a Cuban classic and an original creation. 

From those 40, just three bartenders were chosen to go into the finals. They were Julian Escot, Ryan Chetiyawardana of London (who is working on some new bar projects currently but has spent time at venues including Worship Street Whistling Stop and Bramble in Edinburgh), and Chris Hysted of Black Pearl in Melbourne, Australia. 

For the finals, the three bartenders repeated their two drinks from the semi-finals. They then had to make a new creation with a box of mystery ingredients they were given half an hour to work with. Finally, the bar was open to all attendees and the bartenders had to make drinks for the crowds. For this part they were judged on their speed and accuracy and service, as well as cleanliness of their work station and how well they worked with their barbacks. 

Ryan Chetiyawardana prepared a drink with roto-vapped Daiquiri syrup in his spin on the classic cocktail. For his original, he used something he called "beer vermouth." In his mystery box drink, he used avocado, coconut, mango, grapefruit bitters, parsely, and other ingredients.

Chris Hysted made a Mojito variation with Fernet-Branca and carbonated horchata (!). He also made a variation of the Japanese cocktail, and his mystery box drink included clinatro, cucumbers, chilis, anise, watermelon, and chocolate bitters. 

Julien Escot's drink recipes are below. He created a twist on the Daiquiri with vanilla syrup, allspice, and egg whites, and a Julep with allspice liqueur and falernum. His mystery box drink included grapes, basil, peach bitters, and curacao.

Congratulations to Julien Escot winner of the Havana Club International Cocktail Grand Prix 2012! 

Recipes from Julien Escot of Papa Doble in Montpellier France

WEST INDIES (twist of Daiquiri)
Shaker / coupette / cubed ice
50 ml Havana Club 3 Year Old
20 ml fresh lime juice
20 ml homemade vanilla syrup
5 ml Pimento Dram, The Bitter Truth
10 ml egg white
2 dashes Creole Bitters, The Bitter Truth
Garnish: grated nutmeg

CARIBBEAN JULEP (creation)
Build/ Julep Tin / crushed ice
80 ml Havana Club 7 Year Old
10/12 fresh mint leaves
5 ml Pimento Dram, The Bitter Truth
20 ml Homemade Velvet Falernum
Garnish : mint sprig , candied orange zest, crushed spices (cocoa, star anise, cinnamon, cloves)

HOMEMADE BOURBON VANILLA SYRUP
Infusion of vanilla, coffee bean and cinnamon in boiling sugar syrup
Sirop de sucre de canne
2 pods of Bourbon vanilla
Cinnamon stick
Coffee bean

VELVET FALERNUM MAISON
Infusion of the ingredients in boiling sugar syrup. Then Mixed with Havana Club 3 Year Old
Sugar syrup
Pod of Bourbon vanilla
Stalk of lemongrass
Piece of ginger
Cloves
Coffee beans
Almond extract
Mint leaves
Havana Club 3 Year Old

 

Alcademics Up for an Award. May I Have Your Vote?

For the second year Alcademics is nominated for Saveur's Best Food Blog Awards in the Best Cocktail Blog category. 

I'd appreciate your vote. 

Go here to sign up or sign in (sorry), then back to the voting page. You'll see a big VOTE button at the bottom of the page. If you don't see that button, you haven't signed in to vote. 

I won't harass you to vote too much on Facebook as I'm getting kind of tired of always seeing that stuff, so please vote now and get it over with.

 And while you're clicking, you might want to check out the other nominees in the category:

• This Girl Walks Into a Bar
• There Will Be Bourbon
• Jeffrey Morgenthaler
• 12 Bottle Bar
• The Five O'Clock Cocktail Blog