Contestants push boundaries of extreme mixology

42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup Contestants push boundaries of extreme mixology

Saturday 26th June, Queenstown, New Zealand: The 32 bartenders from around the world that are competing in the 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup on June 28th on the mountain at famous ski mecca, Coronet Peak, today faced the most difficult challenge in the “Under Pressure” section of the competition build up.

Competitors were required to make a cocktail while jumping off The Ledge bungy site high above Queenstown. It was a difficult challenge with only a handful of competitors completing the full challenge of shaking, pouring and drinking their high flying cocktail. Two competitors even incorporated flips into their jumping and shaking routine.

“I was so bloody scared of just jumping, then the Chief Vodka Bloke said I had to do it while making a cocktail as well,” said competitor Adrian Biggs from Bar 3 in Auckland. “The other competitors from all these hot bars overseas think the guys from 42 Below are seriously deranged after the challenge they faced today - and we hear there is more madness involving white water and alpine cocktail making before the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup on an ice bar up a mountain of Monday!” added Adrian.

Seasoned professional Naren Young (pictured) from the Bayswater Brasserie in Sydney finds it hard to believe the meteoric success of 42 Below.

“The 42 Below Cocktail World Cup is the hottest ticket in the world cocktail scene, creating a buzz for this premium New Zealand brand all around the world. Drinks mixology has become a serious profession worldwide and while the warm up events are a bit of fun, the competition itself is a very serious event,” said Naren.

The 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup will take place on the mountain at Coronet Peak in front of an audience with the most spectacular view out to an ice bar, perched on the side of the cliff. Every team will have to go out to the ice bar to perform. They will have ten minutes each, to make one cocktail to a music track of their choice. There will be 11 teams of three, between the different countries. The teams will be judged on ingredients, performance, taste, uniqueness and flavour.

The 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup gives bartenders an opportunity to strut their stuff and learn what others are doing in the best bars in the world. 42 BELOW’s chief Vodka bloke Geoff Ross, says “ While there have been cocktail competitions before, usually in a hotel lobby somewhere, we wanted to show these bar tenders something different. New Zealand is the home of 42 BELOW and it’s clean environment correlates directly to the taste of our vodka. So why not let these people experience this first hand – on the side of a mountain”.

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