Andrei Talapanescu

Winning cocktail: Paragon
50ml Patrón Reposado
35ml Tomato & Paprika Water*
25ml Clarified Lemon Juice*
20ml Basil & Szechuan Pepper Syrup*

Tomato & Paprika Water:
2 parts tomatoes and 1 part red bell pepper (measured in grams). Juice them both and boil the juice until the fibber raises to the surface, then strain through cheese cloth, add 0.2% sea salt based on resulting weight.

Clarified Lemon Juice:
750ml lemon juice, 2g Agar-Agar, 25ml water, hydrate the agar agar in water by bringing it to a boil, then let cool below 80 degrees celsius, add the juice to the warm liquid and store in fridge for at least 12h, once the gel has set, strain through coffee filter.

Basil & Szechuan Pepper Syrup:
Basil hydrosol - 1 litre water, 80g fresh basil - 24h maceration. Szechuan - 500ml water, 20g toasted Szechuan pepper - 24h maceration. Rotovap - 65 bar - 123rpm - water bath 50 degrees celsius - chiller -10 degree celsius - 220min distillation time.