The latest cocktail competition to hit Australia has seen Vanguard Luxury Brands and Flor de Caña, announce Carlos Hurworth from Mama Taco in Brisbane as the Australian champion of the Sustainable Cocktail Challenge.
It’s the first time the competition has been held in Brisbane, and Hurworth will now represent Australia at the Global Finals, which will be held in Central America from 30 March to 3 April 2020.
Flor de Caña is a sustainably produced premium rum from Nicaragua and this cocktail challenge takes that sustainable ethos and aims to promote throughout the bartending community. The competition awards the bartender that can best combine creativity and sustainable products to serve a truly amazing cocktail.
For the Australian final bartenders were asked to create and submit a sustainable cocktail, highlighting the use of sustainable and Fair-Trade products. Twelve finalists were then shortlisted to have their drinks tasted, before four finalists were invited to compete at the Australian Final held at Melbourne’s Whitehart Bar last week.
The then consisted of two rounds, firstly a mystery box challenge where the top four had to create and present a cocktail using Flor de Caña 12-year-old and the sustainably sourced ingredients from the mystery box, in under seven minutes.
This was followed by the presentation and serving of their original sustainable cocktail, again using Flor de Caña 12-year-old, but this time with their own sustainable ingredients.
Hurworth’s winning Sustainable Cocktail named ‘Close to Home’ featured whole mango kefir, nut and spent coffee ground honey, spent citrus rind and Fair-Trade coconut sugar biscuit, as well as the Flor de Caña 12-year-old. All ingredients were created and sourced locally, before being batched and chilled and served on a rock of ice.
The Global Final of the Sustainable Cocktail Challenge will see finalists from over 30 countries from around the world competing for the grand prize of $10,000, followed by $5,000 for second place and $2,500 for third.
