Monday, Feb. 22, was the date for not just one, but two major cocktail competitions in town, and if you wanted to attempt the quinella, you were busy from 6:30 until well after midnight. (And I'm still recovering from the effects, even though I paced my intake like the old man I am.)
The first event was the Woodford Reserve Manhattan Experience Competition held at the Bell Tower downtown. The Manhattan Experience will culminate with a national finale for six regional finalists on April 18 in New York. Local competitors included bartenders from a dozen Nashville watering holes including The Patterson House, Union Common, Le Sel, Pinewood Social, Tupelo Honey Cafe, Gray's on Main and others. Each competitor was asked to submit two original recipes using Woodford Reserve bourbon. In addition to a classic Manhattan recipe using Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select, bartenders came up with their own Woodford Reserve Double Oaked cocktail that showcases the flavor profile of that particular expression of the bourbon.
I was surprised by the breadth of different flavors that were represented in what was supposed to be a "classic" Manhattan. The competitors stretched the recipe using all sorts of exotic vermouths and amari to complement the bourbon. Their Double Oaked drinks were even more diverse, including some that used ingredients like Greek yogurt and mists of scotch sprayed across the rim of the glass.
In the end, the big winner moving on was Jonathan Howard, representing both Embers Ski Lodge and the newest bar on the scene, Old Glory in Edgehill Village. Speaking of Old Glory, this striking new bar played host to a preview night on Monday and was also the host for the finals of the Sipsmith Showdown Cocktail Competition. After two rounds of preliminaries at Bar Sovereign and Bar Luca, the finals had come down to Jeremiah Blake of The Green Hour and Will Benedetto from William Collier's, competing head-to-head for the chance to win a trip to London to spend time learning from Sipsmith's master distiller.
But before the competition could get underway, the assembled masses had to close their agape jaws left slack from entering from the alley of Edgehill Village to descend the staircase into the most dramatic drinking space in Nashville. Located in the former boiler room of Whiteway Cleaners, Old Glory is an absolute stunner, with soaring ceilings that have to be at least 60 feet tall, several levels of mezzanines and plenty of booths, nooks and crannies for drinking and canoodling.
The talented bar staff, many of whom started at Bar No. 308 in East Nashville, were working overtime to keep the masses drinking while a DJ spun a high-energy background mix. Old Glory will be the spot to enjoy artful cocktails or just a can of cheap beer. Either way, you'll be entertained by the crowd and amazed by the ambiance.
But back to Sipsmith. As one of the judges, I was in for the long haul, despite the fact that I'm usually in bed before the competition even officially began. Fortunately, there would be only two drinks to sample, and with such a big prize on the line, the other two judges and I took our jobs quite seriously.
Sipsmith is a classic London dry gin, with more emphasis on Spanish botanicals like almonds and pepper taking the lead over the traditional piney juniper that characterizes some gins. As such, Sipsmith lends itself to more nuanced cocktails that draw out the individual characteristics of the base spirit.
Benedetto throws his cocktail
Both Blake and Benedetto accomplished that with very different cocktails. Jeremiah infused elements that demonstrated the vibe of his own bar, The Green Hour. Opening after hours in Tempered Coffee and Chocolate Shop in Germantown, The Green Hour boasts more than 20 varieties of absinthe, so Blake included both chocolate and absinthe in his cocktail recipe and presentation. Benedetto went the other route of looking within the Sipsmith for inspiration, drawing out a nuance of honey by actually dripping a 100% beeswax candle into the drink before double-straining it out at service. Designed as an apertivo living somewhere on the cocktail compendium between a martini and a Bee's Knees, Benedetto's drink was just bitter enough to stimulate a little pre-dinner salivation, just like a good aperitivo should.
The judges' deliberation was agonizing, since both of the bartenders presented fine cocktails. While we all agreed that we would happily order Blake's drink again any time, in the end we decided that Benedetto's effort showcased the base spirit a little better and demonstrated creativity and technique that tipped the scales in his favor. If you want to congratulate Benedetto on his win, you'd better hurry, because he has recently accepted a new gig and will be moving out of town.
That will be a loss for the local cocktail community, but hopefully the opening of Old Glory will soothe our wounds a little bit.
The new Old Glory
