Elijah Craig's Ultimate Old Fashioned Innovator

As part of its Old Fashioned Week celebrations during October last year, Elijah Craig challenged bartenders in the UK to submit their most exciting riff on the Old Fashioned to find the Ultimate United Kingdom Old Fashioned Innovator.

According to National Heaven Hill Portfolio Mixologist Lynn House, there's a tipple for everyone. "For bartenders, whiskey connoisseurs, and cocktail fans, the Old Fashioned is merely a jumping off point: a blank canvas that invites experimentation and challenges perceptions of what the cocktail is - and what it could be."

This was a competition to inspire creation and was judged on the written recipes combined with videos submitted by each bartender. The cocktails were not sampled or replicated by the judges, of which I was one.

Benjamin Salguero, Baijiu specialist & co-owner of Golden Crane, was judged the Ultimate United Kingdom Old Fashioned Innovator with his Rise like a Phoenix cocktail.

Benjamin wins £1,000 and the accolade of Elijah Craig's Ultimate United Kingdom Old Fashioned Innovator.

Congratulations to Benjamin and many thanks to all the other bartenders who took the time to enter this competition and submit a video.

Rise like a Phoenix

Glass: Old Fashioned
Garnish: Blazed orange zest & toasted pineapple slice.
Method: STIR all ingredients with ice and strain over a cube of ice.

Recipe:
45 ml Elijah Craig Small Batch
15 ml Hsifeng Chiew Phoenix aroma Baijiu
15 ml Lemon oleo saccharum (1:1 ratio of lemon zest to caster sugar extracted for 24 hours)
2 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
1 dash Orange bitters
1 dash Cherry bitters

Inspiration: Inspired by the devastating fire that destroyed the Heaven Hill distillery & more importantly the rise of the local community to stand by & support each other in a time of crisis. This cocktail brings together the harmony of community with flavours from around the world to emphasise the more delicate & tropical notes of the spirits in a single glass.