Mmmm.... some good cocktail suggestions here! (and a scary one, too!
)
If you're going to be in London for June 21-24, you might want to check out
Taste of London, an outdoor culinary festival at Regents' Park with music and some top chefs/restaurants and bartenders. (
Associated festivals in Edinburgh, Bath and Birmingham.)
At the London festival, there will be a live event on June 22 to showcase and choose the bartender finalists for the Cocktail World Cup (sponsored by 42 BELOW vodka).
And the
Cocktail World Cup itself will be held in Queenstown, NZ over the week of September 9-16. If you know a bartender who might like to compete and possibly get flown to NZ for the finals, check the web site, although you can see from the following quote, it's not just about standing behind a bar.
The 4th annual 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup takes place this year 9-16 September where brave bartenders from the world’s best style bars and restaurants including Mahiki, the Ritz and the Cuckoo Club in London, Bungalow 8 in New York, Elements in LA, El Bulli in Spain, Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai and Herrie Bar in Amsterdam mix cocktail-making flair and technical expertise with adrenalin; bungee jumping from bridges, dangling from helicopters and jet boating.
Each year entrants introduce new ingredients and innovative methodologies at the CWC. 2006 discovered molecular mixology with lemongrass reduction and calcium chloride from North East Asia, flaming cinnamon sticks from Europe, yam sculptures from Central America and red hot pokers from the winning UK team. Ingredients ranged from inventive to bizarre with oak smoked syrup, toasted pinecones, wasabi, lavender bitters and sour plum powder.
Dale DeGroff (well known 'mixologist') will be one of the judges. One of the drinks from
his website:
GRAPEFRUIT JULEP
1.5 oz. of vodka
1 oz. 100% Pom Wonderful Pomegranate Juice
1.3 oz.Florida grapefruit juice
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. honey syrup (Prepare by mixing two parts honey with one part warm water, cool.)
2 mint sprigs
Bruise one mint sprig in the bottom of a mixing glass with the lime and honey syrup. Add the juices and shake. Strain over ice into a chilled rocks glass. Garnish with the remaining mint.
(Actually, I make something like this quite often, but I skip the honey syrup and mint and usually use lime juice instead of lemon. It's similar to a SeaBreeze Martini really, with Pom juice replacing the cranberry juice.)
(
Gay Ski Week is from September 1 -9 in Queenstown, if anyone wanted to attend both...... )