Episode 098

Show Notes

Zac Hoffman is a craft bartender based in Washington, DC who is responsible for opening a number of excellent venues and developing some really great beverage programs. Right now, he’s behind the stick at Roy Boys, a southern-inspired bar in the Shaw neighborhood serving soul food and innovative craft cocktails. He is also a brand ambassador for Gin Lane 1751, a London-based craft gin company.

Regarding Cocktail Competitions

The main topic of discussion for this episode is cocktail competitions. These have been around just about as long as the craft cocktail renaissance got popping in the early 2000s. Although there are a number of formats, prizes, and difficulty levels, the point of every cocktail competition is essentially the same: create an innovative custom cocktail that impresses the judges.

According to Zac, there are four different tiers of cocktail competitions:

• The “God Tier” – These competitions are generally sponsored by massive spirits brands or conglomerates. These competitions are: Diageo World Class, Bacardi Legacy, Bombay Sapphire’s Most Imaginitive Bartender.

• Big Brand Competitions – Usually sponsored by individual spirits brands. Whereas the God Tier competitions focus on the individual genius of the bartender, these competitions want to highlight the portfolio of the brand. There tend to be less rules here – and the products are the star.

• Medium-Sized Competitions – These are usually run by medium-sized spirits brands, and they tend to have more structured rules. The Copper & Kings Mixtape Competition is a great example of this.

• Local Competitions – These tend to be centered in a particular city or held at a distillery. The prizes are smaller, and bartenders tend to have less time to finesse their entries. However, they’re great for bragging rights and are still a useful way for bartenders to gain standing in the industry.

• Flair (The Fifth Tier) – These competitions don’t really have as much to do with making great cocktails as they do with flashy execution. Bartenders are flinging bottles all over the place and lighting things on fire. It’s like the circus.

Featured Competition: Speed Rack

Speed Rack is a really important cocktail competition that does great charitable work for breast cancer research and gives women an exclusive platform to feature their bartending skills. This competition is judged based on a combination of speed, execution, and drink quality, and it has qualifying and semi-final rounds in a number of cities throughout North America.

Don’t Sleep on Kings

This is Zac’s entry for the Copper & Kings mixtap competition. The idea of the cocktail is to highlight under-utilized bar ingredients, and the song that inspired this creation is “Don’t Sleep” by Chromeo (feat. French Montana & Stefflon Don).

To make it, you’ll need:

• 1/4 oz Lime Juice
• 3/4 oz Grapefruit Juice
• 1/2 oz Simple Syrup
• 1/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• 1 1/2 oz Copper & Kings Single Barrel Pear Brandy (105 Proof)
• 3 Dashes Embitterment Aromatic Bitters
• 2 Dashes Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters
• Top with 1.5 oz of Q Grapefruit Soda
• Garnish with a grapefruit twist and a brandied cherry

Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, strain into a highball glass over ice, and then top with grapefruit soda, and garnish with the twist, the cherry, and a sustainable straw.

Lightning Round

Favorite Cocktail?

The Water Lily

If You Were a Cocktail Ingredient, What Would You Be?

Cynar. I’m very shootable and pleasant in small doses, but would you drink a pint of me? No.

Cocktail With Anyone, Past of Present?

I would share a case of beers with Karl Marx.

Influential Cocktail Books

• Liquid Intelligence – Dave Arnold
• Regarding Cocktails – Sasha Petraske
• The Aviary Cocktail Book
• The Alinea Cook Book – Grant Achatz
• The Joy of Mixology – Gary “Gaz” Regan