News

Events

Spectator sports are not really my thing. They remind me of being little and nothing on television but horse racing on Sundays, or being forced to watch the football results at 5pm every Saturday.

But I think I've found a sport that I really enjoy watching. For on Monday evening (April 6, 2009) Cloud 23 was the venue of the World Class Bartending Competition Northern finals. For once I wasn't distracted by the heady views from the top of the Beetham Tower, and got really into watching cocktails being made by the experts.

The winning drink of the night was conjured up by Tom Higham, 21, who works at Menzels in Sheffield. And this coup was even more impressive as he had got the dates mixed up and had to hotfoot it over the hills to Manchester with just seconds to spare. His alcholic combination was based on the event sponsor, Ciroc vodka, and included muddled grapes, orange bitters, and homemade rosemary and lemongrass syrup. With a sprig of rosemary balanced on the top, this fruity delight was named The Grape Escape.

Opposing Tom in the final was Jon Hepplestone, from Skippys and Trio in Leeds, and his concoction was a white frothy beauty, made with Ciroc vodka, egg whites, elderflower liquer, sugar syrup and lemon juice. Both contestants were scored not only on taste and creativity, but also their bartending skills, which incudes knowledge of drinks and their personality. As winner of the Northern vodka heat, Tom will go forward to the finals in London and also wins a trip to the Cognac region in France.

The four categories for the competition are rum, gin, vodka and tequila. Judges included Andy Pearon, mixologist from BBC2's Something for the Weekend and Ian Cameron, editor of Theme magazine. The winner of the global competition will have a book of their cocktails published, and be the face of a campaign.

Andy said: "This competition really showed the amazing standard of bartending in the North. Everyone had put a huge amount of effort into their recipes but Tom just stood out not only with the excellent standard of his drinks but also his knowledge and confidence behind the bar."

Our very own Anthony Brough from Cloud 23 took part in the first round, where he had to make a completely original cocktail and then a twist on a classic. His original drink was called Penny Lane and made with Ketel One vodka, gomme (sugar syrup), lemon juice, four orange peels and a slice of chilli, served with a homemade chocolate straw. This one certainly tickles my fancy and hopefully it will be on the cocktail menu at Cloud 23.