Buffalo's Best Mocktail Competition Recap
If you’ve noticed, I haven’t published a post on here in a hot minute. Well, I started a new full-time job, have been doing a LOT of jewelry pop ups, have had a bunch of other little things happening behind the scenes, oh, and I planned an entire event from start to finish in the course of 2.5 months.
As you all know, I’m the self-proclaimed mocktail queen of Buffalo. My “Mocktails of WNY” series has been wildly popular with those of you in Buffalo who are either looking for a night out without alcohol or who don’t even drink at all. So, I’m sure that you’ve seen bars and restaurants all over the country host cocktail competitions. Basically, local bartenders all come together on one night at one place and compete to win the title of Best Cocktail. I’ve always thought that competitions like that look like so much fun, but didn’t make sense for me to attend since I wouldn’t drink any of what was being made. Well, for the past few years I’ve had an idea to host a mocktail competition. But, since I’m not in the industry, I really didn’t even know where to start in terms of the planning process. Sure, I’ve planned lots of parties and events before, but how do I plan a competition?
Fast forward to lots of sleepless nights and me constantly second-guessing myself (Is this stupid? Will anyone show up? Who even am I to host something like this?), I decided to just go for it. So with the help of some amazing industry friends (Cory at The Beer Keep, Leacel at Jack Rabbit, and Frank at Buffalo Distilling to name a few), I was able to pull this damn thing off in 2.5 months.
It took place at Hartman’s Distilling on September 29th. The most challenging aspect of things was finding a place that was large enough that also understood and believed in my vision. Hartman’s pulled through big time and I’m so thankful for them. Next was trying to find bartenders who would be into the idea. I was floored at the amount of support and excitement that I received from the six bartenders who competed. We had amazing folks representing from my favorite places - Hartman’s Distilling Co., Buffalo Distilling Co., Jack Rabbit, Marble & Rye, Mister Sizzles, and Ballyhoo.
Now let’s talk about sponsors! The very first business that I though to bring on board was Squeeze Juicery. They provided all of the juice that the bartenders needed for their recipes and I was so excited to get them involved (I frequent them weekly!) After juice, I knew that I wanted to get a non-alcoholic spirit company to provided something for the event. Generally speaking, during regular cocktail competitions, there is a booze sponsor that provides a base spirit for the bartenders to build their drinks off of so that they all have a common factor. Sure, I could let the bartenders just have at it and create anything that they wanted, but for judging purposes it would be nice if they could all have one of the same ingredients. Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits came through and gave us their American Malt, which is their version of a bourbon.
How about judges? A competition can’t be a competition without a panel of judges! I had three amazing people make up our panel of judges- Cameron Rector, owner of Vera, Chris Drew co-owner of Spoke & Dagger, and Michelle Merlo, bartender and mixologist extraordinare. It absolutely was a tough competition to judge because all of the drinks were SO good.
So we had the place, the people, the sponsors, and the judges, so what was left? Well, the audience, of course. And you guys SHOWED UP! You SOLD IT OUT! And you were excited to be there and excited that there was something different happening in the city that didn’t involve drinking. In fact, it involved the opposite, and I’m SO thankful for each and every one of you and all of the positive feedback that I’ve received so far.
But the moment we’ve all been waiting for…who was the winner? Well, it was non other than Ballyhoo- great cocktails and GREAT mac & cheese. Their winning cocktail was named the Placebo, cute right?
In case you were curious, these are the drinks that the bartenders created for the competition:
Ballyhoo (winner!): The Placebo- Lyre’s American Malt, lemon, honey, ginger, smoke
Jack Rabbit: The Slow Down- Lyre’s American Malt, black tea, egg, grapefruit, cayenne
Hartman’s Distilling Co: Touch of Heaven- Lyre’s American Malt, blackberry simple syrup, egg white, lemon, orange
Marble & Rye: For the Birds- Lyre’s American Malt, black walnut bitters, pine nut, gardenia mix, lime, Thai bird’s eye chili
Buffalo Distilling Co: One Foot Mock- Lyre’s American Malt, maple, lemon, black walnut bitters
Mister Sizzles: Not Another Juice Box- Lyre’s American Malt, Lyre’s Coffee, Fig, Local Honey, Oolong
My friends over at the Buffalo Happy Hour podcast were at the event the entire night shooting behind the scenes footage and interviews, and the video turned out amazing! Make sure to give it a watch and to give them a follow. Thanks so much, guys!