Mix it up: Take a victory sip of the cocktail created by the UK’s best bartender

For centuries, we got along just fine making cocktails without the need to turn it into a competition – the winning was in the drinking. But in recent years, drinks companies have been putting on more cocktail competitions than you can shake a shaker at. Don’t let the thought of competitive drinking lure you in though. If you're ever invited to watch a cocktail competition, make that the day to shampoo your budgerigar: just say no.  

Cocktail competitions are not a spectator sport, but an underutilised weapon in the battle against insomnia. The competitors – accustomed to working behind bars – are thrust on stage and asked to perform like pop stars. As well as make drinks, bartenders also have to narrate what they’re doing and why to the audience. Most are nervous and care too much to perform well in this alien environment – which is ironic, as nobody else seems to care a great deal. The biggest travesty is that, apart from the judges, the audience rarely gets so much as a sniff of the cocktails being made on stage.

So why do these competitions exist? The same reason the world goes round: money. Brands love to court the world’s best bartenders and vice versa. For the drinks brands, “winning” would be one of the world’s best bartenders creating a new cocktail with their ingredients. For bartenders, winning the competition usually involves a fat cheque, becoming a brand ambassador and the chance to travel the world.

Perhaps they could square the circle by asking everyone to perform drunk, but I’m doubtful. Anyway, even if they remain dull affairs this doesn’t mean the results of the competition are pointless. These are the best bartenders in the world, after all; they know how to rustle up a decent drink.

 Diageo recently hosted its World Class awards in London, which is one of the biggest competitions in the industry. It means the bartender gets to become an ambassador for Diageo, which owns some of the best spirits and liqueurs the planet has ever sipped. Charles Joly from Chicago’s The Aviary won the title, while James Fowler was representing the UK. Fowler’s bar is the Larder House in Dorset (a must-visit if you’re holidaying down in the West Country). With the British summer stoically refusing to give way, his Pomms Cup ‘n’ Bob cocktail is top of my list – not least because it’s easily replicable at home. It’s as refreshing a cocktail as you’ll drink all summer and, if the weather turns, you can always bunker down with the leftover port for the cold months.

 

 

• 20ml Tanqueray No. Ten gin
• 20ml Noval 10-year Tawny port
• Fever Tree Mediterranean tonic
• Orange, lemon and lime sorbet

• Build over cubed ice.
• Add 20ml cold gin, then 20ml port and top with tonic. 
• Crown with a scoop of sorbet and garnish with cucumber, frozen berries and mint.