Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/133302
WSWA REPORT Brooke Arthur of House Spirits Distillery crafted her Dry Sherry Punch with Aviation gin and used two quarter-inch thick cut cucumber rounds with mint for garnish. On the left, Brian Stewart prepares his XB Sexy, inspired by the beach and leisurely sipping summer cocktails. Mixologist Brian Stewart used XB as his base ingredient for the XB Sexy. With XB, gin, lemon, honey syrup— three parts clover bee honey to one part honey—three slices of cucumber and topped with soda water, the XB Sexy was inspired by the beach and sipping summer cocktails at leisure. "My main goal was to best showcase the spirit, and because this is a premade luxury cocktail, there's no need to cover the essence," Stewart said. "I just knew I had to make it refreshing." Zach Patterson's International Premium Spirits cocktail called the Girl from Jalisco was made with Dos Armadillos Reposado Tequila, passion fruit purée, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, mint leaves and a Serrano chili disk in a Collins glass. "I wanted to keep that lingering flavor of tequila on the palate with my cocktail, adding more fruit citrus and a forward Serrano chili punch with mint," said Patterson. Iron Mixologist Later in the day at the Iron Mixologist competition, upsets and beautiful cocktails played out on the stage. The mixologists then had 30 minutes to prepare an aperitif, long drink and dessert drink, each showcasing a different secret ingredient of their choice. They were required to use one secret ingredient in each drink and were not allowed to duplicate. Wirtz Beverage out of Illinois won big, as Beverage Development Manager Eric Hay slam-dunked the Call for Cocktails judges included Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve; bartender Pamela Wiznitzer of New York City's The Dead Rabbit; and BevMo! Head Spirits Buyer Ted Carmon. Iron Mixology Best in Show and Best Dessert Drink. Hay's creations proved to be unbeatable, winning with a trifecta of aperitif A Little Less Bitter, the long drink Javalina and winning dessert drink Paper Lanterns. Hay made his aperitif with Tanqueray No. 10 Gin and used all of two of the secret ingredients— rhubarb tea and rhubarb juice and ruby red grapefruit. "I actually brought three drinks in my head and by chance they factored into what I already was thinking," said Hay, who believes his nervous energy worked in his favor. "I was so stressing out but now am just in shock, because I dogged myself for a month about this, but I just pretended I was behind the bar." Hay's long drink included Zacapa Rum, Clément Première Canne Rhum Agricole, his own housemade raisin cola syrup, Averna Amaro, rhubarb jam and The Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters. He garnished it with Luxardo cherry and a rhubarb spear with aromatic bitters on top of crushed ice. Then he used Sho Shiko Bai Nigori saké as the base spirit for his winning dessert drink, Paper Lanterns, along with Kalani coconut liqueur, homemade litchi noir tea syrup, Branca Menta with fresh lemon juice. He added a Thai basil florette on a bamboo pick for garnish, using one of the secret ingredients. Best Long Drink went to Craft Spirits Manager John Ueding of Click Wholesale Distributing. His Black Beard's Downfall was prepared with numerous ingredients including Single Silo Chai Vodka, Ruby Red grapefruit, lemon and lime juice, Fee Brothers Old Fashioned Bitters, BG Reynolds Don's Spices #2, Fee Brothers Orgeat, Old Monk Supreme Rum and Fever-Tree Ginger Beer. Hamilton Beach donated the essential equipment the mixologists needed to create their cocktails. Judging the mixologists were Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve, bartender Pamela Wiznitzer of New York City's The Dead Rabbit, Liquor.com CEO and co-founder Kit Codik, The Imbiber journalist Dan Dunn, Spirits Guide for The Last Drop Travis Nass and Ryan Pines, mixologist for The Rack. Southern Wines & Spirits' Armando Rosario's cocktails were truly lovely. All three of his cocktails were arguably the most colorful and fragrant of the day. "For my secret ingredients I used grapefruit for a high acidity cocktail to stimulate the appetite, following with lime, lemon and orange to showcase the citrus Florida has to offer us," said Rosario This was the third year Sly Cosmopoulus of Republic National Distributing Co has met up with the other bartenders for the competition. "It is always a great experience and this year, for my dessert drink I used Fonseca Bin 27 port," she said. "You have to come up with everything in a split second," said Miltenberger, who also used Marie Brizard Chocolate Royale for a play on a Brown Derby. 124 / the tasting panel / june 2013 TP0613_120-156.indd 124 5/23/13 4:53 PM