iBartend

World Class Vodka Category Winner - January 2012

On Wednesday the 1st of February 2012 we had the privilege of making and judging the recipes submitted by all the bartenders of the KZN world class outlets. The Bartenders had to submit a recipe containing either Ciroc© or Smirnoff© Black™ Vodka keeping in mind all the facts and characteristics about the brands that they learned during their training sessions. To help me with the judging process and to ensure a transparent result I selected two very well known and skilled mixologists in KZN; Ryan Duvenage and Severyn Bang. In total we received 43 recipes of which we had to break down to the top 10. From there we were able to narrow it down to one overall winner.

The recipes were judged on the following;

•          Name and brand relevance 25%
•          Taste 30%
•          Aroma 30%
•          Overall Presentation 25%

Making a Ciroc Vodka Based recipe named, “Mary Roc’s”, and winning himself R2000 cash and a R7000 event budget for his outlet, the winner goes to Calvin Foyle of the Fairmont Hotel in Zimbali Resort with a winning total of 77.5%. Well Done.

Calvin’s Recipe was as follows;

Name:                  Mary Roc’s

Glass:                    Martini

Garnish:               Orange Zest wrapped around fresh rosemary

Ingredients:

•   50ml                      Ciroc Vodka
•   25ml                      Rosemary and orange infused sugar syrup
•   12.5ml                  Dry white wine
•   6                            White grapes

The top 10 bartenders were as follows;

•    2^nd place               Philani Biyeza – Oyster Box
•   3^rd place               Bheki Magwaza – Fairmont Hotel
•   4^th place               Siyanda Sokhela – Fairmont Hotel
•   5^th place               Kelly-John Bouwer - Oyster box Hotel
•   6^th place               Sean Calloway – Luna Rossa       
•   7^th place               Sydney Mkhize – Oyster Box Hotel
•   8^th place               Craig Govender – Oyster Box Hotel
•   9^th place(tie)       John Shabalala - Oyster Box Hotel
•   9^th place(tie)       Amire Bere – Havana Grill
•  10^th place             Nkanyiso Masango – Havana Grill

 Well done to you all!