Yesterday I’ve mentioned, that I am going to participate the Marie Brizard classic cocktail competition as judge, today.

Well... judgement day is over!

It can be said that the gross of all drinks was unfortunately not very good. Once more it became obvious, that vodka can’t really support a serious and characterful cocktail recipe. Of the best three recipes, not one contained vodka, despite the fact, that it was the most favored spirit in this challenge.

Furthermore the gap between best and worse drink was incredible wide. Most drinks were mediocre or worse, had no structure, no backbone, no personality.

Some were plainly queasy.

Another drink sounded also very interesting in the beginning: I don’t remember the name of the drink anymore... though it was Cuervo Platino, Marie Brizard Limoncini [a lemon liqueur], pineapple juice and Fresh Basil. A bit annoying in the recipe: why again pineapple juice? And in the tasting: it didn’t tasted really tequila’rish [and Platino is quite expensive, so you want to taste it!], and you even didn’t tasted properly the basil. Great looking recipe, without distinctive qualtiy...

Or there was the drink Honey Rum; looking also interesting: Matusalem Gran Reserva, apricot brandy, pineapple juice, lemon juice and honey. Again: pineapple juice [“crying loud out”]; at the end, far too sweet and not distinctive enough - especially if you are consider the cost of the rum.

Well - I don’t want to list here the bad examples! There were a lot! Bland, creamy, awkward drinks - no further comments!

Further one which won the special award as best looking drink [full points in appearance].
The MBB Deluxe had Smirnoff raspberry, crème de mûre, lime, elderflower syrup and blackberry puree. It was a beautiful and quite balanced drink. Though it wasn’t really classic, neither it had a spirit base, which stood out. Lets say it is a crowd pleaser. Not something really special, nothing we were looking for.

Now the top 3:

I was actually confused, as Sasha, Beverage Manager of the Kempiski MOE was named as contestant - though at the end Marc, a bartender of him did the challenge.

Anyway, the drink looked for me at the beginning wrong: Maker’s Mark, D.O.M. Bénédictin, Maraschino, orange curaçao and Peychaud bitters!

The clue was, that only a half bar spoon of Bénédictin and Maraschino were used. I was also skeptical about the Maker’s Mark, as it is a quite bland straight bourbon. Though the liqueurs and bitters played a great part to highlight the profile of the whiskey. Very good work. The small minus points, which set it back was: Marc didn’t prechilled the glasses, so the drink was a couple degrees too warm. Another was: the cocktail glass, was the wrong choice. This drink just needs to be on the rocks! The technical jury was also not completely happy... and last but not least: the garnish was sloppy: he used a lemon twist [which is absolutely sufficient in a drink] - though he didn’t took of the white pitch - which is essential, if you use a twist as garnish!

I just have to check with Ulric [the master brain and organizer of this competition] what the actual name was. I simply forgot...

Though it was a bartender of Fairmont’s CinCin bar and he the “Blast from the Past” mixed with Johnnie Walker Gold Label, crème de cacao, angostura bitters and cinnamon syrup.

Despite the outraging name this drink was really surprising. It wasn’t really my taste as it was extremely sweet. Though on the other side, it was sorta really, what we were looking for: it highlighted the distinctive character of its spirit Johnnie Walker gold... this amazed me - and it was still quite balanced. Sloppy garnish though again [orange twist with pitch].

The 1:

He used Knob Creek bourbon, orange curaçao, an orange scented sugar cube, angostura bitters and club soda.

I had initially a doubt, that the orange curaçao and the sugar would be too sweet. Though the drink came out very balanced. I am sure, if you wouldn’t have the point in the regulations, that you had to use 2 cl of a Marie Brizard liqueur, he would have used less...

The drink just was great and everybody in the tasting panel just loved it! It was the highlight after a couple of very disappointing rounds - a sorta real classic.

Technical was not perfect but still good enough to win.

What is the verdict of this event?

Well first: Marie Brizard is a liqueur like most other volume liqueurs not worse though also not much better. Though as one cocktail ingredient it was perfectly fine... [sorry Ulric]

Second: The gross of the cocktails were just poor. The three best, were the three only serious classic drinks in the competition. Period!

There is coming a very opinionated post up, about the reaction during and after the event. Stay tuned!

Update:

Some ideas, especially for the best 5:

For the 4th and 5th and most of the other contestants: Don’t you dare and use vodka! C’mon I thought we went over it already! For a vodka competition it would be allowed [and default] - though for any other attempt, use a spirit, which has some taste.

The Bon Vivant Martini:

The recipe was absolutely clever, though came short due to the presentation. This drink cries for a whiskey tumbler and ice! And please: Even if you double chill the mixing glass - it is still no substitute to use chilled cocktail glasses! Definitely not! DEFINITELY NOT!

The Blast of the Past:

First of all: why the #@%& did he called his classic cocktail like that? Sounds more like a 80’s disco drink!

Second: this is tricky - I would rather use cinnamon essence as cinnamon syrup - may be Goldschlager would be a solution; it is still sweet, but so extreme, that you only would need a barspoon or so, to give it a cinnamon hint. And again: why are you stirring a drink in the Boston tin, if you could directly build in the glass, as all classic cocktails, which are looking like that?

New Fashioned 09:

It was a little on the sweet side. Though I think, that this was because of the rules, which stated, that you had to use a minimum of Marie Brizard. With 1 or 1.5 cl of liqueur, it would be even better. Other than that, there is nothing much to improve - may be only that it would be needed to be stirred [in the glass] even longer!

All in all the drinks were too warm and under-shaken. Especially Wasantha, one of the best 5 who didn’t ended up on the podium, shook around 3 or so seconds, with not enough ice and even not efficient.

We had already the point, that most recipes were not classic and had not an alcohol backbone - juices were also just overused and packaged juices were taken [to avoid the work to instantly squeeze it in the short preparation time].

The most annoying point however was, that almost all participants selected a cocktail glass, though most of them mis-used it. A drink in a cocktail glass, shouldn’t have more than the sour-component [lime or lemon juice]. So if you do a drink, with other juices, you supposed to use a long drink glass.

Surprising was as well: Nobody used egg white! In a classic competition. Egg white is trendy under cocktail geeks.

And: only few used bitters - which are again the contemporary state of the art!