Australian team wins 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup

Australian team wins 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup

Queenstown, Monday 28th June: In what is to be known around the world as one of the most spectacular cocktail competitions ever held, an Australia team has won the judges favour at the 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup.

Sebastian Raeburn - Ginger, Melbourne, Regan Touama - Bambu, Melbourne and Ben Davidson - Attic @ The Arthouse, Sydney produced their signature drink Killer Bee, which was enough to edge out the other ten teams and take the prize as the best drink of the event.

The winners described Killer Bee as essentially quite a simple cocktail:

“The complexity comes from the 42 Below Manuka Honey Vodka. Our task was to emphasize and amplify the botanical complexity. We did this with Jagermeister, elderflower and Monin Vanille. The secret ingredients which were muddled and then shaken with the liquids included chilli and Kaffir lime leaves,” said Sebastian Reaburn from Ginger, Melbourne, Australia.

Killer Bee was enough to impress international judging panel:

“Their drink was presented in an extraordinary fashion that fused entertainment with education. They used a combination of flavours that was not immediately obvious, but the complexity and flavour generated by this marriage of ingredients impressed both the judges and the crowd. The passion of these three bartenders and the teamwork put into this drink impressed,” said Jacob Briars, 42 Below Vodka Professor and Chief Competition Judge.

The 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup took place on the mountain at Coronet Peak in front of an enthusiastic audience with the most spectacular view out to an ice bar, perched on the side of Coronet Peak. Every team had to go out to the ice bar to perform and had ten minutes to make one cocktail to a music track of their choice played by DJ Downtown Brown. There were 11 teams from New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK. While the Australians won the 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup, the UK team came second and the Canadians picked up third prize.

The judging criteria was based around five key principles and the Killer Bee cocktail was the only drink on the day to achieve a prefect score in all five categories. The five areas are:

1. Method - Impressive and difficult techniques that can be clearly replicated whilst maintaining audience participation

2. Complexity - Use of original techniques and unusual and unorthodox ingredients

3. Taste - Successful marriage of ingredients offering a range of tastes, flavours and aromas

4. Presentation - Produced to a high standard of presentation with evidence of panache and wow factor in the finished product

5. Consistency - Demonstration of professional techniques and standards

The 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup had an impressive line up of international judges that included:

Ø Jacob Briars - 42 Below Vodka Professor NZ

Ø Max Jacobson - Vegas Magazine USA

Ø Pat Nourse - Australian Gourmet Traveller AUS

Ø Allison Mau - Presenter Good Morning TVNZ

Ø Nathan Haines - Musician NZ

Ø Geoff Ross - 42 Below Chief Vodka Bloke NZ

Drinks mixology is now a well-recognised worldwide profession, especially in western cosmopolitan cities. The Cocktail World Cup was designed to provide bartenders the opportunity to work with the best from their local area and country in a supportive peer environment that allowed them to share their knowledge of techniques, flavours and ingredients.

For three days prior to the competition all 31 bartenders have been put through a series of team building exercises including jet boating, bungy jumping and helicopter rides – all while mixing cocktails. Each night there has been a series of cocktail workshops that have enabled the teams to assess ingredients flavours and techniques for the competition. This assisted the teams in making a decision on a single drink for submission into the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup.

“We wanted to show these bar tenders something different. All of the bartenders will go home with a new depth of understanding about flavours from around the world,” said Chief Vodka Bloke, Geoff Ross.

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