Nothing beats sitting poolside drinking an assortment of fresh cocktails. Participating as a judge in Fast Forward’s first annual Cocktail Challenge and sipping on 24 various cocktails while keeping your wits about you is another story. The judge’s criteria, broken down into four categories comprised of: creativity, presentation and taste — valued at 10 points each, with intangibles worth five points. For each round the contestants were required to make a “surf ’n’ turf”, “fruit ’n’ veg” and “sugar ’n’ spice” selection.
First up were St. Germain’s Gabe Dekker and Jesse Glasnovic. Their fruit ’n’ veg entry, “Hendrick’s melon haze”, had a gorgeous fuchsia-flower-and-cucumber garnish, and featured gin with rosewater, a little too boozy in flavor, but very creative.
From bartenders Krista Ouellette and Cale Dempsey of Vicious Circle, we sampled their take on breakfast, lunch and dessert... in a glass. Starting with the watery tasting “sausage fest”, I would have preferred that the Spolumbo’s-sausage-and-jalapeno garnish remain outside of the drink rather than sunk into it. One sip was all I could bear. “Moda boat” made up for it — a lovely summer drink that mixed a strawberry and cucumber puree with Chambord and a garnish that perfectly complimented the drink.
The biggest disappointment of the night came from Opus. Hardeep Sangha, the only lone contender, gave it his best and scored big in the intangibles category for having an upbeat personality, it was just too bad his drinks didn’t deliver. His first, “the bull shot”, scored points for saltiness, but it was basically a twist on a Caesar, using beef broth instead of Clamato. His use of a flatiron-beef-and-cherry-tomato kabob garnish saved the drink. The last entry, “the ninja libre” curdled and revolted the judges.
A favorite of the night was Red Door Bistro. Charmers Jay Lepla and Derek Sandercock brought it with the inventive “el hefe”, a two-part drink, consisting of a shot in a hollowed jalapeno pepper with papaya and gin nestled in a mixture of pureed cucumber and kiwi with Cointreau and melon vodka. It was creative and well presented but not as tasty as one would hope. My second-favorite drink of the entire competition was “the feng shui.” It featured fresh lychee juice, honey syrup and fresh ginger. Talk about an invigorating summer drink! These guys had technique, personality and seasonality.
Up next were the night’s champs, Belgo. The team starting with the “bleeding steer”, a drink incorporating red pepper juice, a baked grapefruit, a Welsh salt rimmer and a garnish of grapefruit pudding stuffed in a red pepper. It was nice to look at, but I found the red pepper juice too intense. My favorite drink of the night had no name. I think it may have been dubbed “Booze Drink” at one point. Either that or I was hallucinating. The gin martini featured cucumber ice cubes, a skewer of sumptuous ceviche and a porcelain spoon of cucumber and chili puree. The act of drinking this cocktail was three-fold. Sip martini, taste ceviche, slurp from spoon. I loved the interactivity, the taste and the clean presentation. For their last entry Stephen Phipps and Mike DeGrazia pulled out all the stops, “Asian persuasian” mixed fresh OJ and ginger, a shot of whiskey and the dazzling component of star anise smoke under a martini glass. Hookah!
Ric’s Grill came next with “Tom n’ Jerry blueberry”, a mix of blueberry juice, balsamic reduction and a delectable prosciutto-wrapped asparagus spear. Mike Coldwell and Kathryn Koebel had a lot of support in the house as they mixed up their “carrot cake martini” garnished with a caramel lattice and wedge of pineapple.
My note taking weakened as the sweet lads of Ming, Philip Grandbois and Nathan Head served cocktails 21, 22 and 23 — “ the embargo”, “the duke” and “the beet Bastille”. I was most impressed by “the duke”, a vodka martini infused with brine and garnished with a tasty cured-beef and Gouda skewer.
I felt bad for the Raw Bar team which had to finish the night with a group of drunk judges well past the point of getting antsy. Some attendees had jumped in the pool by this point. However, Herman Ma and Franz Swinton finished the competition in style. Because my final notes are an abomination, all I can say is they scored well. I remember liking their “hot fuzz”, and I loved their amusing hip hop and R&B references throughout.
The best contestants possessed personality, innovation and a passion for mixology. The overall winner was Belgo, which also took home the prize top sugar ’n’ spice cocktail for its “Asian persuasion”. Raw Bar won the surf ’n’ turf category with its “surf and sour” and Red Door Bistro earned props for “el jeffe”, its fruit ’n ’ veg cocktail. The Readers’ Favourite Award was presented to Ric’s Grill.