The Tasting Panel magazine

May 2012

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BARTENDING CHALLENGE Single Brandy A half dozen of the top mixology talents in Los Angeles gathered one Monday in April at the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills to showcase their skills in using Monteru Single Brandy. Monteru is a collection of brandies each made from a single grape variety: Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, produced by Distillerie Tessendier in France. As Franck Vigneron, President of Comandon Cognac and VP of Monteru, explains: "If you have a hundred pictures to email to someone, you don't send them a hundred pictures—you 'zip' them. These are 'zipped' varietals." When Monteru was presented last year to the SLS Hotel's Showdown MONTERU HOSTS SIX OF L.A.'S TOP MIXOLOGISTS FOR A TEST OF TALENT AND TASTE by David Gadd / photos by Christine Merson Rivera, Pablo Moix of La Descarga, Conor O'Brien of the SLS, Zach Patterson of Bagatelle, Brian Summers of Harvard & Stone and Naomi Schimek of The Spare Room in Hollywood. The judges—bar entrepreneur Aiden Demerest of Neat; writer Jessica Gelt of Monteru Single Brandies. The Los Angeles Times; Mark Schwartz, spirits buyer for The Wine House; Franck Vigneron, President of Comandon Cognac and Monteru; and your truly— were presented with six stunning creations, each featuring one of the Monteru Single Brandies. First prize: a trip to Cognac, where Monteru is produced. Both the camaraderie and the competition were intense as the mixologists—all friends Franck Vigneron, President of Cognac Comandon and VP of Monteru (center), with the contestants (left to right): Brian Summers, Julian Cox, Naomi Schimek, Conor O'Brien, Zach Patterson and Pablo Moix. own mixologists, the in-house team quickly understood the concept and began incorporating the single brandies into their house cocktails. "Sommeliers have been pairing single varietal wines with food for years," says Vigneron; "now mixologists are able to pair single varietal brandy with specific cocktail applications." Inspired by the creativity they witnessed at the SLS, Vigneron and his own team decided to partner with the SLS to host this special competition. Stepping up to the plate were Julian Cox of Playa and 42 / the tasting panel / may 2012 and colleagues—measured, poured, shook and garnished. After scoring each cocktail on effective use of time, ease of replicability, visual aspects, taste and conceptual connection with Monteru, the judges deliberated long and hard before reaching a final, difficult verdict. In the end, Naomi Schimek triumphed by a short margin with her masterful Alsace Cobbler, using Monteru Single Brandy of Riesling. "The mixology contest at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills was a difficult challenge with an amazing all-star line-up of mixologists," concluded Vigneron. "It was great to see these talents embrace so quickly the concept of Single Brandy as they connected it naturally to their cocktails." For complete recipes of all the cocktails as well as more photos, go to www.tastingpanelmag.com.

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