Ian Sanderson of The Tiki Bar has won the Scottish heat of the Putting Pen to Shaker cocktail competition, held in his home bar on 24th June. The competitors were asked to draw inspiration for their original libations from a literary source, using at least two products from competition sponsors The Poshmakers’ range. Ian’s winning entry, The Wee Gnasher, was inspired by the source of this favourite childhood reading, The Beano.
Jimi Pearce, Brand Ambassador for The Poshmakers, told DRAM, “This is our second year running the competition, and the skill level of each entrant was extremely high. The concept was developed to focus on The Poshmakers’ styles and link them to traditional British eccentricity, and it’s been great to see the bartenders really embrace the theme.”
Ian, and runner-up James Kemp from The Finnieston, will go on to face a further six UK mixologists at Opium, London in September, with the winner going on to the grand final at Salvatore’s Bar at Playboy to go up against competitors from Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Germany.
David Relph, from brand distributers 10° C, said, “Events like today help us raise awareness of the brands in Scotland, all of which are comparatively new. It’s a growing cocktail market in Scotland, not just in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and we’d love to be a key part of it. The competition is a good way of engaging with bartenders, and lets them see how they can work with the brands.”
The Poshmakers range features -ish gin, -ish Limed, Virgin Gorda rum and AKA vodka.