Good Living Brewing Company is inviting mixologists and bartenders across the South East of England to enter its new low-alcohol cocktail competition to mark Dry January.
Entrants are encouraged to test their creativity by creating a low-alcohol cocktail using at least 100ml of Good Living Brewing’s Binary Botanical, a 0.5% ABV light beer with a fresh profile, light bitterness and a tangy finish. The serve needs to be vegan and no greater than 1% ABV.
To enter, visit the Binary Botanical website. The deadline for applications is December 20, with submissions closing on January 5. The first 50 entries will be sent six bottles of Binary Botanical.
Following shortlisting, the finals will take place on January 20, hosted by Good Living Brewing’s partner Michelin-starred restaurant L’ortolon, near Reading in Berkshire.
The judging panel will include Marco Nardi, restaurant general manager at L’ortolan restaurant; Laura Willoughby MBE, co-founder of Club Soda; Dr Frieda Derhmann, Finlays group head advanced analytical science sensory and processing; and James Purcell Lacey, bar manager at Coppa Club.
Serves will be judged on appearance, creativity, taste, aroma, presentation and technical execution, with the winner earning a trip for two to the Pilsner Urquell Brewery in Plzeň, Czech Republic. The runner up will win £300 of Amazon gift vouchers.
Marco said: “I came across Binary for the time last year at the Restaurant Show in London. I instantly fell in love with the product and started imagining what we could do with it back at the restaurant in order to extract its full potential.
“We’ve been serving Binary Botanical 0.5% at L’ortolan since it launched in July and we use it in a number of seasonal cocktails because of its unique flavour compound and the incredible versatility it brings towards blending with other ingredients.
“At L’ortolan we create a syrup out of the Binary Ale and we use this in our creation of new cocktails. We’re excited to see the creative ideas of other mixologists and bar tenders.”
Danielle Bekker, co-founder of Good Living Brewing, added: “We’re very excited to be hosting this binary botanical cocktail competition in partnership with L’ortolan.
“We’re trying to get people to think differently about beer, especially low-alcohol beer. We want people to think they can drink it out of a wine glass and it can make amazing cocktails. It can be so much more versatile than when people just think about beer.”
