The annual Mediterranean Inspirations Competition is back, it has a new format but the prize is, as always, the amazing trip to Ibiza later in the year.
Over the last few years we have worked with Gin Mare & CASK Liquid Marketing on the Mediterranean Inspirations Competition and it is always one we look forward to. A lot of you will have heard us talk about how much we enjoy the competition for not only the fantastic trip to Ibiza, but also for the quality and imagination of the drinks we try each year.
In the past bartenders have been asked to put their own unique twist on the Gin & Tonic, the Red Snapper and the Dirty Martini. We have seen it all, from a whole octopus garnish to an ‘iPhone thrown into a swimming pool’ garnish. Luckily the garnishes have been matched with superb drinks that we still enjoy whenever we have a bottle of Gin Mare to hand (which is pretty regularly).
This year the competition is introducing a new element to inspire everyone, an ingredient as simple and neglected as any, but one that provides vast possibilities to get your cocktail brain working….. the egg.
That’s right, this year one of your two entry drinks (entitled the Gastrobartender Drink) is to be inspired by the humble egg. Now we aren’t here to tell you what to do with your drink, we don’t want to teach you to suck eggs after all (you didn’t think we’d make it through with out any egg based puns did you?), but if that brief doesn’t get you thinking about the possibilities then we don’t know what will.
As we alluded to there is another drink to consider, your Mare Nostrum serve. Your own interpretation of Gin Mare’s four brand values: ‘lifestyle, cuisine, climate and that unique promise of escape’.
Across each of these drinks don’t forget the heart of both Gin Mare and the competition is the roots the brand has to the Mediterranean. The competition is called Mediterranean Inspirations after all.
Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner
The prize on offer is one of the best out there as well, no yolk. The winners few days in Ibiza will be some of the most fun and relaxing they will ever have with a brand.
Sure you will be representing the whole nation at a global final which the UK have in-egg-plicably never won…. until this year? However you will be doing this in a villa with an infinity pool overlooking the Mediterranean sea and Ibiza’s countryside. Then there is the amazing food, limitless G&T’s, Ibiza nights out and plenty of sunbathing time, all whilst hangout out with bartenders from across the globe. It is, as the kids say, not shit.
To round it all off if you do win the final of the competition then you will rewarded with €4,500 (which is a little over £3,500 at time of going to press) and the opportunity to travel with Gin Mare for a whole year.
This year there will be heats taking place in London, Manchester and Edinburgh with a UK final at a swanky venue in London to pick our 2016 UK Gin Mare Mediterranean Inspirations winner, who will be heading to the global final in Ibiza.
To enter you will need to give us the specs, method and name for your two drinks via the form below. From there BarLifeUK will work with CASK Liquid Marketing and Gin Mare to pick those competing in the heats.
To provide some added inspiration Gin Mare have teamed up with the hugely respected and talented folk over at www.foodpairing.com who have created flavour maps and all sorts of other brightly coloured diagrams to help inspire you as you get creating.
Rules:
Minimum 40ml Gin Mare in each drink
The Mare Nostrum Cocktail must include at least 2 alcoholic ingredients (including the Gin Mare), but no more than 4
The Mare Nostrum Cocktail must contain no more than 6 ingredients
Homemade ingredients are allowed but must be easy to replicate
Entry deadline is May 31st, so no egg-cuses (we’re going for a lie down).
Just to confirm – you only have to enter two drinks:
Drink 1 – Egg inspired. Only rules are that it has to have a minimum of 40ml Gin Mare and any homemade ingredients must be easy to replicate.
Drink 2 – The Mare Nostrum Cocktail (a drink inspired by lifestyle, cuisine, climate and that unique promise of escape). Must contain a minimum of 40ml Gin Mare, at least 2 alcoholic ingredients but no more than 4 alcoholic ingredients, as a whole the drink should contain no more than 6 ingredients (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), homemade ingredients must be easy to replicate.