The countdown has begun to the finals of this year’s Bacardi Legacy competition, which selects a bartender and drink that is worthy of being a new rum cocktail classic.
On February 7, last year’s three UK winners of the title of “most promising” – Daniel Bovey of Sahara in Reading, Chris Moore of the Savoy in London and Gordon Purnell of the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh – will compete for the overall place of UK Bacardi Legacy champion. At the same time, finalists from heats in Edinburgh, Manchester, London and Bristol will seek to be the next “most promising” finalists.
However, Bacardi Legacy has grown over the past few years and national finals now take place all over the world. On February 4, the Swiss final takes place in Zürich, with six “most promising” finalists seeking the top place.
As in the UK, they are rated not just on the quality of their original Bacardi cocktail but also on their ability to market it internationally and get it onto drinks lists.
The Swiss finalists include French-born Nicolas Michel, head bartender at the Bar of the Beau Rivage Palace in Lausanne, who is well-known in London after he worked at places such as The Hoxton Pony in Shoreditch.
At last year’s Swiss final, Nicolas presented the Golden Prestige (pictured) which is inspired by a Daiquiri. “I wanted to create a cocktail that remained true to the roots of Bacardi Superior,” he said. “The idea is to emphasise the exoticism of the liquid that Don Facundo bottled 150 years ago, complementing his originality with some of my own.”
As well as proactively contacting the UK press including Bar magazine, Nicolas has managed to get the cocktail on to the lists at The Hoxton Pony, Novikov and the Bulgari Hotel bar in London. Others listing it range from Honi Honi bar in Hong Kong to Hôtel Taiwana on St Barths in the Caribbean.
Nicolas has also set up a website for the cocktail at www.goldenprestige.ch and a fan page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenPrestigeBacardiLegacy2013.
Golden Prestige by Nicolas Michel
2 pinches of saffron
15ml Fresh passion fruit
15ml Gomme syrup
10ml Fresh lime juice
5ml Orange blossom water
50ml Bacardi Superior
Shake and double strain into a coupe. Garnish with orange zest
The other Swiss finalists are Laura Schacht of Clouds Bar in Zurich, Simon Brandmayer on Onyx Bar in Zurich, Thomas Huhn and Michael Kampmann of Les Trois Rois in Bâle, and Hanspeter Ott of Bar La Curva at Hotel Monopol in Andermatt.
