February 18th, 2010

Save the date: Boston Bartenders on the Rise

Put March 14 on your calendar, imbibers. Drinkboston and Green Street are teaming up for another event: Boston Bartenders on the Rise. The night will showcase four of the Hub’s emergent talents behind the bar, each of whom will serve a favorite cocktail:

  • Carrie Cole of Craigie on Main
  • Evan Harrison of Deep Ellum (recently of the Independent)
  • Bob McCoy of Eastern Standard
  • Emily Stanley of Green Street

While more familiar names in the Boston bar scene still command a lot of attention, the above individuals represent the up-and-coming generation of sharp personalities who know how to mix a killer drink and take good care of their guests. More details on this event in a later post.

Speaking of events, you’ll never guess what I’m doing this Sunday, February 21: judging a vodka cocktail contest. The Cocktail World Cup is put on by 42 Below Vodka and the U.S. Bartenders Guild and takes place at Bond, in the Langham Hotel, starting at 8:00 p.m. Bartenders in Boston and several other American cities are competing to go on to the national competition in New York on March 7. Three national finalists will then move on to the international competition in New Zealand, where they are expected to mix cocktails while bungee jumping and riding in speedboats. I’m not kidding. Hey, if a Boston barkeep gets to fly across the world for that kind of adventure, I’m happy to play a part.

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5 Responses to “Save the date: Boston Bartenders on the Rise”

  1. MC Slim JB

    The Green Street event sounds terrific!

    As for judging the vodka contest, congratulations! I have it on good authority that if you can see through the vodka bottle to a cool painting on the other side of the inside, or the packaging otherwise looks like it cost at least five bucks to manufacture, drinking it will make you a sexier, skinnier, more youthful person with more discriminating taste and better dance moves — so I would pick cocktails made with one of those. I could use some of that fancy-vodka mojo.

  2. Jacob Briars

    Slim JB,

    No fancy pictures on this bottle unless you mean a small map of New Zealand. You must be thinking of other vodkas, or maybe confusing 42 Below with Miller’s gin?

    Great to hear you’ll be judging the event Lauren, your blog is always a pleasure to read and I hope you enjoy yourself. The Boston bar scene is very strong and hopefully there will be some MA representatives heading to New Zealand this year.

    Jacob Briars

    42 Below Brand Ambassador

  3. MC Slim JB

    “‘In no other competition around the world are you going to bungee jump, then free pour into test tubes, jet boat at high speeds through narrow canyons and then have a mystery box of ingredients to create a brilliant cocktail on the fly!’, says Denver based bartender Jared Boller of his experience in the Cocktail World Cup 2009. The US brought home the silver in last year’s competition.”

    Whatever one thinks of vodka as a cocktail ingredient, that sounds amazing. I utterly and completely withdraw all my previous snarky, vodka-dissing comments.

  4. cgb

    Who was the talent at the 42 below comp? Winning cocktail?

  5. ljclark

    Here goes, cgb. The two finalists (moving on to the NYC round) and their cocktails are below, and here are the pics of the event: http://stuffboston.com/photos/partypics2010/category22806.aspx

    Matthew Coughlin of Aquitaine
    Rosemary Sour
    2.5 oz 42 Below Vodka
    1/2 oz fresh grapefruit
    1/2 oz rosemary-infused nectar
    1/4 oz fresh lime
    1 egg white
    Dry-shake to emulsify, then shake with ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lime zest.

    Jason Brown of Sensing
    Mr. Robinson (inspired by Jackie “No. 42” Robinson)
    3 fresh sage leaves pressed with one Meyer lemon “disk” peel
    1 oz black tea honey reduction
    3/4 oz fresh-squeezed Meyer lemon juice
    3/4 oz egg white
    1.5 oz 42 Below Vodka
    Dry-shake to emulsify, then shake with ice. Double-strain into chilled cocktail glass. Smack one leaf of sage to release essence, and place on top of frothed cocktail.

    The other contestants were Joshua Eaker of Church, Kevin Bogner of Mantra, Cameron Goebeler of Bond, Aaron Goldman of White Horse Tavern, Noel Christopher of Bond, Jennifer Harvey of 33, Alejandro Alvarez of Mistral/Teatro and Greg Neises of Masa.

    Congrats, bartenders. You all kicked ass for mixing creative drinks in a hot, loud, crowded room while presenting your work to the judges. Whew!

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