The Centinela Cocktail Competition gives the winner of each heat a trip to Mexico to compete in the UK final and spend a few days learning about the wonderful world of tequila.
With the Midlands final already providing the first winner the Scottish final was next up to see who else would be sunning themselves in Mexico later in the year.
Despite the well-known love that bartenders have for tequila there have been surprisingly few tequila cocktail comps in recent years. As a result of this and the popularity of the Centinela brand we had a high number of both entries and quality of entries for the various heats.
As we have grown to expect from Scottish heats the competition was fierce and the judging panel of BarLifeUK, Centinela Marketing Manager Eduardo Gomez and Cory Mason the Amathus Drinks Brand Champion for Scotland had a good afternoon of being entertained and fed lovely drinks from all the entrants.
Hosted in one of our favourite Edinburgh haunts of Voodoo Rooms, the bar was abuzz with nervous excitement as the numbers were drawn and the order decided. As is so often the case with the competition gods they picked on the newbie by putting them up first, this time it was Iain Bell who drew the short straw but overcame the nerves very well to produce a very nice chilli and vanilla based drink.
One of the stand out drinks of the day was from birthday boy Tim Laferla who had travelled up from Manchester to compete that morning with his Under Pepe’s Watch with the unusual ingredient of Guacamole. Also shining on the day was Brendan Phillips using some Chipotle Spice Mix and Crème de Cactus alongside Centinela Anejo.
George Holding produced a great drink combining Centinela Reposado with Guava Jelly and a tobacco infused ginger wine. However in the end it was Emma Andrew from 99 Hanover Street Bar in Edinburgh who continued the superb run of form from female bartenders in Scotland at the moment.
Her drink, Down Town Jalisco, impressed the judges not only with the great balance of flavours but also with the stunning look of the drink. It is certainly one that would have everyone in the venue wanting one as soon as it went across the bar.
Emma joins heat one winner Ruairidh on the plane to Mexico and the final heat in London this week will determine who makes up the trio. Thank you to everyone involved in the day and Voodoo Rooms for hosting us as wonderfully as ever.
The Winning Drink
Down Town Jalisco – Emma Andrew, 99 Hanover Street Bar, Edinburgh
50ml Centinela Anejo
25ml Lime juice
1/4 of a red bell pepper
3 slices of red chilli
15ml agave syrup
15ml dry red wine
Noilly Prat dry vermouth (in atomiser)
Muddle the pepper and chilli, add the tequila, lime and agave syrup. Shake and double strain into a coupette sprayed with the dry vermouth. Float the red wine on top.