The Vodka Cup was divided into two competitions. First, the five US champions participated in the US Shake Off. The winner from this event went on to represent the USA in the International finals, a few hours later.
Both competitions took place at this bar, made entirely of ICE, in the Ice Hotel, in Lapland, Finland.
In both competitions, the bartenders made three rounds of drinks; an aperitif, a long drink and a dessert drink. Each round was timed, so the bartenders had 7 minutes to create their cocktails, consisting of up to 5 ingredients and a garnish. When the buzzer went off, the compeleted cocktails were taken back to the judges who sat in a separate (heated) building.
The main room, in which the competition took place, was well below zero (as was the whole ice construction) and the bartenders hands shook (from nerves and the cold), while the rest of us sipped warm beverages in our full-body snowsuits (my favorite was the Finlandia Mango with Hot Chocolate... YUM!) God bless the bartenders!
The Five US Regional Finalists are:
Lisa Combs
Region: Detroit
Drinks: Mango Tango
Sparkling Berrilicious
Bera Skin Rug
Paul Stern
Region: Chicago
Drinks: Mango Warm Up
Thai Lime Cooler
Fin Berry Brulee
Katriva Riggins
Region: Miami
Drinks: Coy Fin Cocktail
Fin Vine
Mocha FINal
Jason Magers
Region: Arizona
Drinks: Helsinkian Nuclear Wombat
Starlight Margarita
Wildberry Joe
Aaron Specht
Region: Denver
Drinks: Wango Mango
Finnish Fama Mama
Key to Finland
Stay tuned for an upcoming post on the winner of the US Shake Off, who went on to meet 21 international competitors in the finals... (and, yes, I will be providing drink photos and recipes!)
2 comments:
Question: do you spit out after tasting the cocktail(like when wine tasting)? Will you b giving us the recepies to those fabby sounding (and looking) drinks??
(burr...it looks freezing over there California girl!)
Very cool....I'll be waiting for the recipes!
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