New Orleans Mixologist Takes Home Title of “Mix Master” at DeKuyper® National Challenge Event
DeKuyper®, recently hosted the first annual DeKuyper® MixMasters National Challenge on Thursday, November 5 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The twelve competing mixologists won regional competitions in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Detroit, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Denver earlier this year and came together in the Big Easy to participate in several rounds of “spirited” competition.
Contestants were judged on their skill and creativity in making their own, unique cocktails using the more than 60 flavors in the DeKuyper portfolio and other Beam Global products. The “People’s Choice” warm up round kicked off the event, where attendees sampled and voted on their favorites from the 12 winning drinks from the regional competitions. Next up was the “Rock On!” round, where contestants made a simple on-the-rocks drink that was quick to prepare and even quicker to impress. For the “Hot Shots!” round, mixologists were pitted against one another to uncover the next “it” shot. For the final round, the “Judge’s Freestyle,” all drink categories were fair game to the contestants, who were at the mercy of the DeKuyper “Wheel of Ingredients” for quick thinking and innovative ideas.
Ricky Gomez, a bartender and mixologist at the Cure Bar in New Orleans (pictured above, holding trophy), was unanimously awarded the $10,000 prize and title of “Mix Master” for earning the highest score in each round based on his cocktails’ taste, appearance, name creativity, simplicity and originality.
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Click here to view the winning cocktails on our MIXOLOGY page!
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National Challenge judges included top industry leaders, including:
- The “King of the Cocktail” Dale DeGroff
- Ann Tuennerman, Tales of the Cocktail founder
- Philip Raimondo, Beam Global Spirits & Wine master mixologist
- Bobby Gleason, Beam Global Spirits & Wine master mixologist, manager of on-premise training
Click here for more information on the DeKuyper® MixMasters National Challenge
