Lustau Sherry Cocktail Competition
Words by Simon Difford
The Winning Cocktails!
In conjunction with Bodega Lustau, we invited professional bartenders and home cocktail makers to enter their recipes into our competition. Many thanks to the 169 bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts who entered cocktails.
The team at Lustau, led by Lustau's global brand ambassador Steven Dragun, assessed every entry and selected the best to make and sample. I've also made all the winning recipes, as well as other very tasty cocktails that didn't make the final selection, and I think they chose well. Many Congratulations to the winners.
Winners
Winning professional bartender:
Hal Katsyukevych, Biff's Bistro, Toronto, Canada.
with Por Fortunato
Winning cocktail enthusiast:
Hamish Knox
with Last Days of Summer
Prizes
The winning bartender wins:
- entry into CSWS program with online sherry course
- Lustau tasting box with bottles of six different styles of sherry to accompany the course
- the chance to sit an online exam towards becoming a Certified Sherry Wine Specialist.
- special VORS or other limited edition Lustau bottle
- Difford's Guide signed book
The winning home enthusiast wins:
- Lustau tasting box with bottles of six different styles of sherry
- Special VORS or other limited edition Lustau bottle
- Difford's Guide signed book
- Difford's Shaker and Stirring bundles
Like us, our friends at Lustau are passionate advocates of the exceptional qualities of sherry as a cocktail ingredient. The aim of this competition was to encourage the development of new contemporary classic sherry cocktails with international appeal.
Honourable mentions
The following are worthy of a mention, and I'll be sending them a signed book.
Professional bartender:
Boris Georgiev, 5L Speakeasy Bar, Sofia, Bulgaria
with Bottom Rose
Cocktail enthusiast:
Gareth Hives
with Where the Mountains Meet the Sea
