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A mixologist’s tongue-in-cheek decision to ‘flip off the royals’ has seen her crowned Jersey’s cocktail queen.
Ce Soir Manager Denise Barham took first place in Jersey Hospitality Association and Fox Trading’s ‘Taste of Home Cocktail Competition’ last night with her Marie Antoinette-inspired concoction.
A celebration of local produce and creativity, the contest saw the island’s top up-and-coming bar talent pitted against each other in a bid to make the most ‘regal’ cocktail using newly-launched Royal Mash Vodka.
Pictured - left to right: Scott Woodley (2nd), Denise Barham (1st), and Ruben Fernandes.
The spirit’s co-creator, trained chef Rachel de Caen, sat on the judging panel alongside JHA CEO Simon Soar and the Jersey Royal Company’s William Church.
Together, they travelled across the island to sample the delights of different establishments, marking them out of a total of 80.
In the end, competition was so close that there were just 10 points between the top and bottom scorer.
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Video: The judges discuss the entries.
Runners-up to Denise were independent entrant and bartender of six years Scott Woodley, and Samphire’s Ruben Fernandes.
“In the cocktail was the Royal Mash vodka, lemon juice, and apple, cinnamon and caramel purée that I made, and an egg yolk to make it into a flip.
“When the drink was mixed, there was a little sprinkle of cinnamon over the top and it was served with carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and cinnamon on it, chocolate and caramelised apples with it. It’s a real, nice, balanced, drink that feels a bit like eating apple pie.
“I didn’t realise the regal theme until Saturday, so I was thinking about flavours in my mind, I was thinking of Marie Antoinette, ‘Let them eat cake’… I was trying to make it regal in a way that would stand out from everybody else. I like to bake, so that worked very well with me on a flavour side.”
“The cocktail that I was going for was a winterberry with something a little bit different to it – a spicy note.
“I used fresh raspberries and blackberries, muddled some fresh chilli in there and used a chilli-infused cranberry juice. I put in some vodka, vanilla syrup, there was some black pepper in there as well to round it off. All-in-all, a rounded wintery drink. Garnished with some dark chocolate on the side.
“It’s coming up to that time of year where the summer fruits are on their way out and people want something a bit warmer."
Scott continued: “I wanted to do something fruity with warmth to it. I’ve never used chilli in a cocktail before, so I wanted to throw myself out of my comfort zone and see what I could do… I’ve been in a few contests before, but I tend to get quite nervous, so I’m trying to do as many as I can to pull my nerves down a bit. So I thought I’d jump in and see how I get on.”
“I asked for some help from the guys in the kitchen for the flavours and everything.
“My cocktail was pear, almond, the Royal Mash, and cinnamon, lime and apple juice. We came up together with all the full concept, mixed it. Then today we actually changed the lemon juice to lime juice so it could be more fresh.
“For the garnish, we used dry ice, so it’s very Christmassy. We went for it all the way.”
He added: “The competition was really fun and it was great to see great drinks coming out.”
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