42 Below Cocktail World Cup 2006
Oysters, tobacco, yams and hot posset on the menu at the planet’s most extraordinary cocktail competition.
Queenstown, 16 September 2006 - New Zealand bartenders put in a mind-blowing performance at the third annual 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup in 
Queenstown today,
in a thrilling competition that saw cocktail creativity reach new heights.
42 bartenders from the best bars on the planet have spent a week preparing for today’s grand final, undertaking Extreme Cocktail Challenges such as shaking a Cosmopolitan while bungy-jumping, creating a mystery cocktail on top of the
Remarkables in a helicopter and attempting to mix a drink on the Shotover Jet. However, 85% of the final score came down to each team’s shake-off performance on an ice bar at Earnslaw Park this afternoon, hosted by NZ Idol presenter Dominic Bowden in front of a huge crowd.
Ingredients ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous - local ingredients such as 42 BELOW Vodka, SOUTH Gin, Central Otago wines and Kiwi botanicals featured heavily, as well as bizarre additions such as tobacco and oak smoke syrup, toasted pinecones from the spur on the Remarkables. Eccentric methods dazzled the judges, from USA East using ladies’ pantyhose as a strainer, yam sculptures from Central America, the Europe team’s juggling of flaming vodka bottles, molecular mixology with lemongrass reduction and calcium chloride by North East Asian and red hot pokers from the winning team.
The Cup was won by the UK London 2 team (above), scoring a historic victory with the first hot cocktail ever to win the competition. Their ‘Friar Briars’ Sack Posset’ was based on a medieval drink called a posset, popular in the Middle Ages for its warming, medicinal properties. The UK London 2 team updated it for the 21st century by including New Zealand’s 42 BELOW Manuka Honey vodka, Tahiti Dark rum and Speight’s Old Dark Ale.
The New Zealand ProFlow Mixers team placed second with a cocktail called ‘Queen For A Day’. Kelly-Jayne Ferr (from Boulot in Wellington), Glenn ‘Tricky Dickie’ Cullimore (from Christchurch’s Lime Bar) and Anita Ong (from Dunedin’s Di Lusso). The drink focused on locally-sourced ingredients including New Zealand’s own SOUTH Gin, a homemade cherry compote with Otago cherry blossom, and a Central Otago pinot noir.
In third place was the USA East Coast team, who created a unique ‘Oyster Mary Martini’, containing a fresh Bluff oyster, tomato and garlic flower water strained through a ‘local lady’s pantihose’, limoncello sorbet and a basil, celeriac and Togayashi chilli-infused 42 BELOW Vodka.
The 42 contestants were judged by an international panel of experts, including Peter Dorelli, head barman at the Savoy for more than 20 years; Alex Kammerling, London’s hottest celebrity mixologist and BBC star; Kiwi TV star Jaquie Brown and the NZ Bartender of the Year, Simon McGoram.
Peter Dorelli, the acknowledged godfather of cocktails, says, “I’ve been to many cocktail competitions, but nothing like the 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup - this is what it’s all about. The levels of creativity I’ve seen today and during the rest of this week here in Queenstown is incredible. I can retire happy now - the future of bartending is in great hands.”
42 BELOW chief vodka bloke Geoff Ross says, “This year marks the 200th anniversary of the cocktail, and the culture has never been more vibrant - we’re witnessing the cocktail’s second coming. Mixologists all over the world are pushing new boundaries while recognising the importance of the classics.
“The vision behind the 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup is to bring together the best bartending brains in the business and create the finest cocktails on the planet. Yet again our 42 contestants have left us utterly amazed by the standards they’ve achieved.”
42 Below cocktail recipies:
FRIAR BRIARS’ SACK POSSET - UK London 2’s winning recipe
- 2 eggs
- 1 heaped teaspoon honey
- 80ml cream
- 80ml 42 Below Manuka Honey Vodka
- 80ml Speights Old Dark Ale
- 20ml Tahiti Dark
- 5ml Benedictine
- Dash Angostura bitters
Whisk all ingredients and warm on a stove, then char with a red hot poker. Serve in a teacup.
QUEEN FOR A DAY - New Zealand ProFlow Mixers’s 2nd-place recipe
- 1 tablespoon of cherry compote (cherries soaked in pinot noir, sugar and tangelo zests)
- muddled with 45ml South Gin
- 15ml Stoneridge Central Otago Pinot Noir
- 15ml Pimms
- 15ml Amaro Montenegro
Shaken and Double strained into a chilled martini glass.
OYSTER MARY MARTINI - USA East Coast’s 3rd-place recipe
- Limoncello sorbet
- 1¾oz vine-ripened New Zealand tomato, basil, celeriac and Togayashi-chilli-infused 42 BELOW Vodka
- 3oz tomato and garlic flower water
Stirred over ice into chilled martini and garnished with a fresh New Zealand oyster.