On Sunday, December 12th, I attended an event sponsored by Bacardi rum, and there's no reason why I should keep that information to myself. Well, the glaringly obvious reason is that this is a blog about restaurants, and the event took place at the Angel Orensanz Foundation (a synagogue turned art gallery and event space), but bartenders from around this great city competed for cocktail greatness, and I think that's something we can all get behind...especially you booze hounds.
It was the New York leg of the Legacy of the Cocktail Competition (the first two having been in Dallas and Chicago) in which twenty-three bartenders were required to use seven ingredients to create a new Bacardi Superior Rum based cocktail. The three winners advance to the national finals in Miami, Florida in February, and the best of the best goes on to represent the USA in the global finals in Sitges, Spain in April.
So which hometown kid shall we cheer on to win it all? Our three New York winners and contenders are Brian Matthys of Tribeca's restaurant, Compose, with his "Head in the Clouds," Roberto Fuentevilla of the Lower East Side's tiki-themed bar, Painkiller, with his "El Alcalde Daiquiri," and Tomas Delos Reyes of the Meatpacking District's Boom Boom Room at The Standard Hotel with his "Downtown." Since it wasn't made clear what ingredients comprise these various cocktails (besides rum, of course), you'll have to swing by the bartenders' respective establishments to find out. Sounds like a fun night to me! That is, if you have the time, deep pockets (a dinner at Compose reportedly costs $100 to $150 for a ten-course tasting), and the clout to get in (the Boom Boom Room has seen the likes of Madonna, Jude Law, and Donna Karan, while Compose serves only 10 diners per night with 20 more guests permitted at the bar).
While the competition took place on the main level of the space, press enjoyed a tasting of three rums in the mezzanine. The first was Bacardi Anejo, a mixable rum aged for up to three years and available for approximately $16 per bottle. The second was Bacardi Solera, a single-barrel sipping rum aged in oak casks and available for $20 to $23 per bottle. The third was Bacardi Reserva Limitada, and sorry folks, but this one's not yet available in the US. Aiming for a twelve-year target, this rum is a blend of ten through sixteen year old rums, and it may currently be purchased in Puerto Rico, St Maarten, Bermuda, Aruba, Barbados, and the Bahamas for $100 to $150 duty free.
"Why can't we get it here?!" you scream during the night as you awaken in a cold sweat. The answer is that a lot of aged product does not exist, as the tropical climates in which Bacardi is produced lend to faster evaporation and maturation. With a six to ten percent loss in the first year of aging, you are basically left with an empty barrel twenty years down the line - or so said the Bacardi Brand Master Apprentice conducting the tasting, and I chose to believe him, figuring you do not earn a title like Brand Master (apprentice or not) for spewing lies.
Now that we must wait to see who is the ultimate cocktail competitor in the finals of the Legacy of the Cocktail Competition, we should kick back with mojitos, pina coladas, mai tais, or whatever other rum based drink tickles your fancy. If you book a flight to St Maarten in order to try the Bacardi Reserva Limitada, you should probably know that I prefer a window seat.
It was the New York leg of the Legacy of the Cocktail Competition (the first two having been in Dallas and Chicago) in which twenty-three bartenders were required to use seven ingredients to create a new Bacardi Superior Rum based cocktail. The three winners advance to the national finals in Miami, Florida in February, and the best of the best goes on to represent the USA in the global finals in Sitges, Spain in April.
So which hometown kid shall we cheer on to win it all? Our three New York winners and contenders are Brian Matthys of Tribeca's restaurant, Compose, with his "Head in the Clouds," Roberto Fuentevilla of the Lower East Side's tiki-themed bar, Painkiller, with his "El Alcalde Daiquiri," and Tomas Delos Reyes of the Meatpacking District's Boom Boom Room at The Standard Hotel with his "Downtown." Since it wasn't made clear what ingredients comprise these various cocktails (besides rum, of course), you'll have to swing by the bartenders' respective establishments to find out. Sounds like a fun night to me! That is, if you have the time, deep pockets (a dinner at Compose reportedly costs $100 to $150 for a ten-course tasting), and the clout to get in (the Boom Boom Room has seen the likes of Madonna, Jude Law, and Donna Karan, while Compose serves only 10 diners per night with 20 more guests permitted at the bar).
While the competition took place on the main level of the space, press enjoyed a tasting of three rums in the mezzanine. The first was Bacardi Anejo, a mixable rum aged for up to three years and available for approximately $16 per bottle. The second was Bacardi Solera, a single-barrel sipping rum aged in oak casks and available for $20 to $23 per bottle. The third was Bacardi Reserva Limitada, and sorry folks, but this one's not yet available in the US. Aiming for a twelve-year target, this rum is a blend of ten through sixteen year old rums, and it may currently be purchased in Puerto Rico, St Maarten, Bermuda, Aruba, Barbados, and the Bahamas for $100 to $150 duty free.
"Why can't we get it here?!" you scream during the night as you awaken in a cold sweat. The answer is that a lot of aged product does not exist, as the tropical climates in which Bacardi is produced lend to faster evaporation and maturation. With a six to ten percent loss in the first year of aging, you are basically left with an empty barrel twenty years down the line - or so said the Bacardi Brand Master Apprentice conducting the tasting, and I chose to believe him, figuring you do not earn a title like Brand Master (apprentice or not) for spewing lies.
Now that we must wait to see who is the ultimate cocktail competitor in the finals of the Legacy of the Cocktail Competition, we should kick back with mojitos, pina coladas, mai tais, or whatever other rum based drink tickles your fancy. If you book a flight to St Maarten in order to try the Bacardi Reserva Limitada, you should probably know that I prefer a window seat.
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