bringing drinks to life

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’. 

I was chatting with a couple of friends the other day who are not in the drinks industry. It's always funny to see their reaction when they ask what I'm up to, but this time when I told them I had been invited to Leeds to judge a cocktail competition for Cazadores tequila, I was surprised by what they had to say. One thought I was joking and didn't really believe that bartenders have competitions and the other said that it must just be a thinly desguised excuse for a piss up. Now I can understand the reaction, but it got me thinking about how important competitions really are to the drinks trade.

I guess even from an outsiders point of view there are some obvious reasons for comps. I mean from a brand point of view it is a no brainer. You can create a good buzz around your products, potentially get new drinks on menus, maybe grab some column inches in the trade press and most importantly get bartenders using your brand.

On the most basic level all a brand needs to do is throw some stock at a bar, invite a select few bartenders to come up with a couple of new drinks that fit whatever criteria you want to set, line up some judges, invite the journalists and line up a good prize. The result is several weeks of bartenders talking about the fact they are in your competition, trying out new recipes on customers and co-workers, and promoting your products to anyone who will listen. After the comp they will still sell their signature drinks, maybe even add them to their next drinks list and they will most likely reach for your brand over one of your competitors when they can.