Second Annual Canadian Whisky Cocktail Competition @ Clough Club, Vancouver - 11.18.15
Since last years First Annual Canadian Whisky Cocktail Competition was such a success, Canadian Whisky Ambassador, Dave Mitton, decided to add on another province for 2015! What started out with various bartenders from the Toronto area competing for the title in 2014 has now also spilled over to the West Coast to seek out some of the best artists from Dave’s second home of Vancouver.
Anyone, from any bar from around BC could apply for the competition and all entries had to be in by Thursday the 22nd of October before midnight. Names from each province were put into a hat and drawn and the first 12 names selected from each province were set to compete in their region for a chance to go to the finals in Toronto. The top three scores from British Columbia will join the top seven scores of Ontario to compete for the top two places and the grand prize which will be announced the night of the finals.
Competitors had their choice of either Lot No. 40 or Pike Creek Canadian whisky and the theme is “Canadiana” inspired cocktails. That means anything Canadian inspired whether from literature, music, film, people, wildlife, and beyond.
The details for the competition are:
- Minimum of 1 ounce of whisky in the cocktail
- No more than 5 ingredients (infusing and garnish do not count)
- You will make 3 cocktails and you will have 7 minutes to do so
- 1st cocktail to the judges (they will be in front of you)
- 2nd and 3rd cocktail to the photographer and then the crowd watching
The bartenders were judged on;
Name and Inspiration 5
Appearance (of the drink) 15
Creativity 15
Performance 15
Balance and Texture 25
Taste and Flavour 25
Since meeting Dave he has always included us in various events and invited us out to the Vancouver Regionals which took place on Wednesday the 18th of November at 7:30pm at Clough Club, in Vancouver’s historic Gastown district.
We arrived just before the contest began and got to meet a few of the competitors. Over the course of the next few hours we watched each one go to work infront of the judges while bar patrons and friends of the competitors cheered them on. Each competitor had to create enough of the cocktail to had each of the judges try it and have enough to go around the room so everyone else could have a sip too! There definitely wasn’t a bad cocktail in the bunch and definitely some very creative creations.
When the night was through, the results were tallied and the winners announced!
1st Kaitlin Stewart – Royal Dinette
2nd Max Borrowman – Torafuku
3rd Matt Van Dinther – Nomad
For those interested in the other events see the details below.
Toronto Regionals
Tuesday the 1st of December at 7:30pm
Parts & Labour, 1566 Queen Street West
National Finals
Tuesday the 2nd of February at 7:30pm
The Drake Hotel 1150 Queen Street West
- Jordan, Co-Founder
Photos by: Charles Zuckermann
