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Adam Bryan to represent Austin at Texas cocktail competition
Earlier this week, bartenders in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin poured fresh inspiration into a classic cocktail recipe during the qualifying round of the Maker’s Mark Craft Cocktail Competition.
Lead barman Adam Bryan of Bar Congress took home the winning shaker for Austin.
Bryan will join the other regional winners March 31 at the Long Center for the Performing Arts for the Stars of the Bar competition, which is part of the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival’s Stars Across Texas Classic. Each bartender’s cocktail will be judged for the chance to be named the Festival’s official cocktail for 2011.
The competition was based on the premise of creating a new twist on the Collins cocktail, a drink traditionally composed of a spirit, citrus, sugar and soda. Each drink must showcase Maker’s Mark as the base spirit but could play with variations of citrus, sweetener and effervescent agent (soda, beer, sparkling wine, etc.) to create an original drink.
The judges of the local round of the competition, which was held in the Fox Tavern at Haddingtons, were myself, Bill Norris and Zach Northcutt of Haddingtons and Todd Richman, mixologist and Trade Educator for Sidney Frank Importing Company.
The featured cocktails sported unusual ingredients and inventive combinations. Themes varied from Indian curry spices to homemade lemon curd, dark chile chocolate and a cherry Chinese 5-spice gastrique.
Bryan’s cocktail, the Handyman Collins, was one of the two cocktails that featured beer as a primary ingredient, tapping into a booze trend that’s been popping up on menus in Austin recently, and has been spotlighted on a national level for some time now.
The Handyman Collins (which Bryan describes as a good cocktail to enjoy after mowing the lawn) is a combination of Maker’s Mark, lemon zest, castor sugar and Hennepin Beer. The hops from the Hennepin and wheat-forward flavor of the Maker’s Mark played well together. The addition of fresh lemon zest creates a refreshing drink with multiple layers of interest.
Austin-based Maker’s Mark Distillery Diplomat Adam Harris told the crowd he was impressed with the unique and varied flavor-profiles everyone brought to the table as well as the level of sophistication each participant infused into such a simple base recipe. He further claimed that the level of talent showcased is a testament to how creative and flourishing the cocktail scene is across Texas, and in Austin in particular.
Check out the recipe for Adam Bryan’s drink below.
The Handyman Collins:
2 oz. Maker’s Mark
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon zest
1 Tbsp. castor sugar
4 oz. (approximately) Hennepin Beer
Crushed Ice
Cherry and lemon wheel garnish
**Photo of Adam Bryan at Bar Congress taken by Ralph Barrera AMERICAN-STATESMAN. Cocktail photograph by Emma Janzen AMERICAN-STATESMAN.
**UPDATE: There were 6 others who competed in the Austin round. Benjamin Craven from Perla’s, Brian Dressel from Second Bar + Kitchen, Houston Eaves from the East Side Show Room, Carter Buford from Peche, Brandon Burkart from Haddingtons, and Garrett Mikell from Peche.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Cocktails, Competitions, Recipes
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By poryorick
March 11, 2011 9:24 AM | Link to this
Was anyone else involved in the Austin portion of the competition? Can’t tell from the copy.
By Emma Janzen
March 11, 2011 6:28 PM | Link to this
Poryorick,
My apologies. I didn’t mention the other participants names.
There were 6 others who competed in Austin. Ben Craven from Perla’s, Brian Dressel from Second Bar + Kitchen, Houston Eaves from the East Side Show Room, Carter Buford from Peche, Brandon Burkart from Haddingtons, and Garrett Mikell from Peche.