Martin Miller’s Gin Competition
Last Thursday was the UK final of the Martin Miller’s Gin Cocktail Competition 2008, the culmination of six rounds of competition that took place all over the UK. Held at the Miller’s Academy in Notting Hill, an opulent mixture of old school charm and British eccentricity, the event saw seven of the UK’s finest bartenders fight it out in a competition themed around the humble Gin & Tonic.
Owing to a previous judge dropping out I was lucky enough to be invited to judge the competition, alongside Jon Santer, brand specialist for Miller’s and original head bartender at the legendary Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco, famous blogger and international playboy Jeffery Morgenthaler, and creator of the gin that made this all happen, Martin Miller himself. When I arrived everyone was more than a little hungover from the previous night, but after a few G&Ts and a customary wait to allow the event to be suitably late starting, the bartenders were ready for battle to commence.
The first round, the “Twisted G&T”, required each bartender to create their own unique take on the venerable classic. Simon Warneford kicked off proceedings with a tonic gelée topped with a gin caviar and various powered chemicals to create the fizz. When eaten with the right ratio of gelée to caviar this tasted amazingly similar to a good G&T, and as a molecular mixology skeptic I was pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately more often that not your spoon had too much of one or the other, throwing the “drink” off balance, but when it worked it really did work.
Another highlight was Paul Mann’s full-scale presentation on the G&T, including a deliberately badly made one that was frighteningly similar to many I’ve experienced over the years, complete with the rapidly decaying lime and approximately three ice cubes. He finished up just as it looked like he was going to totally overrun with a cool-box full of G&T ice lollies, something I’m sorely tempted to replicate next summer, if only for the novelty value.
Interestingly, while many of the men went for showy drinks using fancy techniques the women taking part tended to concentrate more on making a really tasty cocktail. Amanda from Ithaca in Manchester produced a drink beautifully presented in a cup and saucer (g and tea, get it?), while Rebecca Almqvist’s Pink G Buck #7 was by far the best drink, as evidenced by the fact Jeff couldn’t keep his paws off it…
Following this round was the speed round, where each bartender was required to produce as many Gin and Tonics in one minute as humanly possible. The limes were precut, but tonic bottles had to be opened within the time limit, and each glass had to contain gin, tonic, ice and at least one slice of lime. Given the speed they were working at, many glasses ended up with about two limes worth of slices in the glass, and of the drinks I tasted they ranged from just about OK to pretty damn bad.
Amazingly though both Rebbecca and Amanda managed 17 drinks, easily beating last year’s speed champion Paul Mant, and combined with her fantastic cocktail Rebbecca Almqvist emerged as the clear winner. I look forward to visiting The Lonsdale soon and enjoying a Pink G Buck #7 all to myself…
Posted in Out and about
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September 18th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
“International Playboy”, huh? You’d better hope we don’t bump into each other in Berlin, bub. I distinctly remember asking you if you wanted any more of that Pink Buck before I downed it all. Man, was that ever refreshing.
Great post, I’m glad I got to hear about the end of the competition, too – you know, since I missed it and all.
Jeff
September 18th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Great post you gloriously lucky bastard…
I’m anxious to see how Berlin goes for you cats and whether or not you can capture another photo of Jeffrey pawing at drinks. Good stuff.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Hi Jay,
Thank you for the accolades, but I’m afraid I don’t deserve that one. I did open Bourbon & Branch with Todd Smith and helped Todd with the menu and all the blood sweat and tears for far too many hours. However I have to say that Todd created that place, not me. I helped him and served as lead bartender from opening until about 9 months ago.
Great post. I’ll be reading you regularly now.
Cheers.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Jay,
great stuff. That G&T speed competition just makes the efficiency expert gears in my head spin.
Are we going to see a recipe for that Pink Buck soon?
-B
September 19th, 2008 at 4:29 am
Hmm, so how does one make a Pink G Buck #7?
September 19th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Brilliant post by the way, thanks Jay!
September 19th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Jeff – you did indeed offer it around, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. I was merely demonstrating how popular it was amongst us. Glad to be able to fill you in on the end details…
Gabriel – the challenge will be to take a photo that doesn’t feature Jeff somewhere in the background with a drink in his hand. Though the same can probably be said of me and most others that will be there!
Jon – apologies (or rather apologies to Todd). I knew you were involved in B&B, should have checked a little more carefully how! Good to meet you, one of these days I’ll make it out to the West Coast to see what you guys are doing over there.
Blair, Chuck – The recipe for the Pink Buck can be found at Rebbecca’s new blog, though it uses a couple of quite unusual ingredients like Chamberyzette (a sort of strawberry vermouth) and Bercherovka (an interesting herbal liqueur from the Czech Republic) so making it yourself may prove tricky. You’ll just have to come over the London and I’ll take you to the Lonsdale for one.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Thanks for the link, Jay. Hmm … Chamberyzette is only available in the European market, so I guess I’ll see you in London.
I do have a bottle of Becherovka, though, which I rather like.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:28 am
[...] 4. I have a run-in with Jay Hepburn. Again. [...]