Judge's Choice - David Chow for his Viva Puffs inspired chocolate covered marshmallow cookies, with each element from the cookie to the marshmallow to the chocolate coating being infused with Mount Gay.People's Choice - Sat Shastri from Oliver and Bonacini Artisan. Sat's childhood in Guyana inspired his West Indian rum cake made with rum brown butter butter-cream, rum chocolate ganache and rum caramel mousse.
The STORIED COCKTAILS TORONTO WINNERS were:
Josh Lindley (Bar Isabel)
with
"Three Arrows"
1.5oz Mount Gay Eclipse (if you are feeling like a baller you can use the XO but you will want
to cut the simple syrup)
.75oz Switchel (I made my own and adjusted the amount of molasses to fit the drink)
.75oz Pineapple Juice
.5oz Lemon Juice
.3oz Simple Syrup (2:1)
.25oz Angostura Bitters
1-2oz. Bellwoods Brewing Bimini Twist Berlinerweisse
Shake everything except for the beer on ice for about 8 seconds, and double strain into a
rocks glass with the beer in the basement. Garnish with half of a grapefruit wheel.
http://joshlindley.com/
Megan Jones (Reposado Bar)
with
"Message in a Bottle"
1.5 oz Mount Gay Eclipse Rum
0.75 oz Thyme Infused Cointreau
0.75 oz Salted Apricot Syrup
0.75 oz lemon
1 egg white
Dash of angostura bitters
Add all ingredients into a Boston shaker. Dry shake ( without ice ) first and then add ice and
shake it whipping the cocktail to create a foam from the egg white.
shake it whipping the cocktail to create a foam from the egg white.
Strain and fine strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a dash of angostura bitters and a sprig
of thyme tied to the base of the coupe with an orange slice.
of thyme tied to the base of the coupe with an orange slice.
Story :
This cocktail is inspired by a sailor. Now this was not just any ordinary sailor. This sailor had
arguably the most important job on the ship... rationing the rum. This was also no ordinary voyage. This was a trip this sailor had waited his entire life for. They were headed to Bridgetown Barbados to pick of the largest shipment ever of Mount Gay rum. Legend had it this was the oldest and finest rum in the entire world and the sailor, who considered himself somewhat of a rum connoisseur, was naturally excited to try it. With the rum barrels safely on the ship and the ship safely underway on its journey to bring Mount Gay rum to the rest of the world, the sailor got his chance to take his first sip. It was indeed the best rum he had ever tried. All of the sudden he heard a loud CRASH. Turns out the ship had hit a massive coral reef that ripped straight through the hull of the boat. All the barrels around him began to shake and one fell directly on his head. He blacked out completely. He wakes up to find he is stranded on a deserted island. As fate would have it, all of the rum survived the shipwreck as well. Unfortunately, fate was not so kind to the rest of the crew and they perished at sea.
arguably the most important job on the ship... rationing the rum. This was also no ordinary voyage. This was a trip this sailor had waited his entire life for. They were headed to Bridgetown Barbados to pick of the largest shipment ever of Mount Gay rum. Legend had it this was the oldest and finest rum in the entire world and the sailor, who considered himself somewhat of a rum connoisseur, was naturally excited to try it. With the rum barrels safely on the ship and the ship safely underway on its journey to bring Mount Gay rum to the rest of the world, the sailor got his chance to take his first sip. It was indeed the best rum he had ever tried. All of the sudden he heard a loud CRASH. Turns out the ship had hit a massive coral reef that ripped straight through the hull of the boat. All the barrels around him began to shake and one fell directly on his head. He blacked out completely. He wakes up to find he is stranded on a deserted island. As fate would have it, all of the rum survived the shipwreck as well. Unfortunately, fate was not so kind to the rest of the crew and they perished at sea.
For some time the sailor did exactly what you would expect from a sailor stranded on a deserted island with the world's finest rum ... he got drunk. This lasted days or weeks even and then one day he awoke in a haze and realized all good things must come to an end. He not only needed to go back home but he needed to share this glorious rum with the rest of the world. He took out his pad of paper and his pen and began to write help notes; rolling them up, stuffing them in a bottle and sending them off to sea. To his dismay, no one came to his rescue. In one final and genius attempt and with his last piece of paper and last drop of ink he wrote this: "SOS SEND HELP, I AM STRANDED ON A DESERTED ISLAND WITH THE WORLDS LARGEST SUPPLY OF MOUNT GAY RUM ".
In no less than a week an entire fleet came to his rescue. Honestly speaking, it's more likely they were there to rescue the rum. Regardless, both he and the rum made it safely on board and he was forever known as a hero for he had protected the rum and continued to share Mount Gay with the rest of the world!
Nishan Nepulangoda (Blowfish)
with
"Passion Fire"
1 1/2 oz Mount Gay Silver rum
3 oz passion fruit juice (sugar, water, sea salt, passion fruit) I oz pineapple juice
1/4 oz calamansi juice
3/4 smoked pineapple chipotle
2 drops tiki bitters
1 1/2 oz mount gay extra old rum
dry ice
Garnish : double pineapple cherry garnish, camphor glassware : ceramic pineapple tiki mug, fresh whole coconut
For my cocktail, I looked back to the 1940's for inspiration, the height of the tiki era — in other words, a time of excellent rum drinks. (That time period also suits me because I always wear my signature pork pie hat from the 1940's to complete my getup.) The specific drink that inspired me was the Mai Tai, which originated in 1944 in California, the home of tiki techniques. It's always been a favourite
cocktail for me, probably because it was the first one I ever made at my first bartending job in Sri Lanka.
I also looked back to Sri Lanka to find my inspiration for my twist on the Mai Tai: namely, passion fruit juice. My mother used to make fresh passion fruit juice for me every for lunch, blending it together with fresh passion fruit seeds, water, sugar and salt. The double pineapple cherry garnish is another thing I learned at my first job, while the camphor fire is a fun application of tiki science!
Reed Pettit (The Miller Tavern)
with
"Cinnamon Toast Punch":
45ml Mount Gay XO
30ml Toasted Cinnamon Syrup
15ml Lime Juice
Topped with Crushed Ginger Ice
My story is about how hard it is to come up with names for cocktails. The hardest part of creating a cocktail is coming up with the name, To this very second I haven't figured one out.
I originally named it after the namesake "The Sir John Gay" but I was quickly given a cease
and desist from Elton John's lawyers. Perhaps the flavours in Mount Gay XO; Cinnamon,
Toast, ginger, spice…thats it! ..."Ginger Spice", she is sexy and has great legs, not unlike
Mount Gay. She doesn't have longevity though. And then I started thinking about the history
of Rum and the Island that produces the finest. Barbados! Barbados was discovered in what
you might call "good spirits" pun most certainly intended.
A hurricane caused a ship to accidentally land on the island. That's it a Hurricane! Well, it
turns out that name is already taken. So anyways this ship lands on the island and there is
nobody around. Just the sailors and their stocked ship of English custard and spirits. The
term for spirits at the time was "comfortable waters" possibly a great name for my cocktail,
a little more inviting than a hurricane. "The water is comfortable, hop in." as it turn out, a
little too comfortable, the sailors made short work of their supply. Out of necessity the ships
sailed to the nearest dutch port bringing back food and most importantly Sugar Cane. Here
you have an island with year round heat, limestone for water filtration, a huge supply of
sugar cane and a large group of thirsty travellers with a knowledge for making spirits…"The
Thirsty Traveller."
I'm a little scared I'd be punched by Kevin Brauch for using that so I'll steer clear of it. This
was the birthplace of Rum! Kill-Devil, Barbados Water, Pirate Drink! So as I serve you this
drink, perhaps we can make a toast. A toast to Barbados, A toast to an island that was once
described as a place where their cereal production was insufficient for food, let alone
brewing. I present you A Cinnamon Toast Punch.
and
Simon Hooper (Libation Consulting)
with
"Bitter Me Timbers"
2 oz Mount Gay XO
1 oz Cointreau
1 oz vanilla syrup*
0.5 oz Falernum
1 oz fresh lime juice
6 dashesAromatic Bitters
2 dashes Chocolate Bitters
2 dashes 'Elemakule Tiki Bitters
Glass: Collins Glass
Garnish: Rooibos Flamethrower & grated dark chocoloate
Method: Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Add ice and shake until well chilled. Fine strain
over crushed ice in a collins glass. Finish with grated dark chocolate and a spritz of flamed
rooibos*
*Vanilla Syrup
2 cups water
2 cups turbinado sugar
1 vanilla bean pod (split)
Method: Combine water and sugar in a sauce pan. Scrape out vanilla beans from the pod
into the sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Fine
strain into a clean glass jar. Refrigerate. Keeps for up to 3 weeks.
