You may remember from a couple of our earlier updates that we have taken a bit of an interest in some competitions over the last few months www.bittersandtwisted.com/content/its-not-all-fun-and-games-honest. Well we thought a quick update was in order in regards to the Bacardi Legacy competition and the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup.

Firstly the 42 below comp, which is firmly under way as the UK teams are getting serious about creating a buzz around their drinks. In fact it is getting so competitive that team west London have had to resort to extreme tactics to show their dedication to the competition… check out this video clip of Danny from LAB getting a 42 below logo tattoo!… www.youtube.com/watch now that is some serious dedication to the cause!

Now on to the Bacardi Legacy competition which you may remember from our update has been running for the past 12 months, www.bittersandtwisted.com/content/what-could-be-better-classic-cocktail-ago-perrones-mulata-daisy-maybe Well it has finally come to an end…. which of course means it has also started all over again! Last night at a typically grand event hosted by the iconic rum brand and attended by many of the great and the good of our UK drinks industry, the 7 shortlisted bartenders for the 2010/11 comp competed to win a final 3 spot in the competition. By making it down to the final three these bartenders are committing to spending the next 12 months promoting their drinks in order to create a ‘modern classic’. 

There are a handful of bars that have become truly iconic and have stood the test of time; Milk & Honey in New York springs to mind, Lonsdale for many years, but go into any quality cocktail bar almost anywhere in the world and mention LAB bar in London’s Soho and bartenders know exactly where you’re talking about.

For those of you who are scratching your heads and saying, ‘LAB? never heard of it!’ it’s about time you crawled out from under your rock and had a look around. LAB has been at the sharp end of the bar scene in the UK for over a decade and while it’s had it’s ups and downs it’s never really fallen from grace. Right now LAB feels as though it is on an up-swing again, so I’m readily anticipating many more years of greatness from them.

You see LAB was created as a proving ground for bartenders, a place where good bartenders went to become great bartenders. The name stands for ‘London Academy of Bartenders’ so you get the idea… Some of the leading lights of the bar world learnt their trade here and the list of ‘star-tenders’ who can trace their roots back to this bar is long and legendary. The fact that half of them have gone on to become brand ambassadors and are now leading the life of luxury shouldn’t put you off drinking here though, as each in turn earned their reputations by putting in the hours perfecting their craft. LAB has always been a place bartenders work to take that step beyond just making drinks; to learn the craft of tending bar.