Bar Show Week and the Bartender of the Year comp.

I'm going to take a step away from the usual stuff that I write to do a little bit of self-induglent boasting. Last week was the 10th Australian Barshow, and included in this seminar/conference was a number of competitions and the like. The big one of the year for any aspiring bartender was the Australian Bartender Magazine's Bartender of the Year competition - the reason I started taking the job seriously in the first place. This year was my first year competing in the comp, and as far as things go, I feel I went pretty damn well.

I'll be honest, I'd been anticipating the competition for a couple of weeks, but that came down more to the fact that everyone from Australian hospitality guts their bars to a very bare skeleton crew so that everyone not stuck at work can converge on Sydney for a week of extreme looseness. This year, I was looking forward to seeing old friends like: Rory Lim (SCRYBL, for those in the know); Adam Brewer; the Bowery boys; the Laruche lads; Shay Leighton, Papi (Karel Reyes) - The Brisbane Massive, essentially, as well as my best mate Lukey. The prospect of sitting the exam to be in the running for Bartender of the Year was also turning my stomach. It was the opportunity to apply all the (effectively useless) knowledge that I'd accrued over the previous year of hard-out studying. What were my other options, really? Start a blog to teach people who probably already know alot about booze my interpretations on it? As if that'd work!

Douche-bag behaviour

The start of Barshow week was Sunday, where everyone else cracked down to Cafe Pacifico for the Bartender Brunch that Phil Bayly (owner of the wonderful tequila bar and mexican restaurant down in Surry Hills) and myself and my housemate Tash Sorensen chilled at home cleaning up and saying hi to Ron (Zacapa, that is). We later bailed and cruised to Eau De Vie for the final round of Bar Trivia. Because I'd jumped jobs during the year, I wasn't actually in a team for the finals, so I just sat in with the Press Club guys - Brewer, Jordan Harris and Ryan Lane. These are cats that I learnt alot from when I was first starting out, so it was nice to chill out with them show them a little bit of the stuff that I'd learnt in the previous 12 months after leaving Press. Turns out it wasn't a small amount, as our team effort landed us second place (behind Black Pearl) and scored us a bottle of Ketel One vodka and the now defunct Johnnie Walker Gold Label, centenary edition. Props and thankyou to Gregg Sanderson and Chris Hysted, this year's winners of the comp, and their generous donation of their bottle of Jose Cuervo Reserva de Platino - the shots were well received guys.

I called it soon after this, and myself and Brewer cruised home and did a wee bit of studying for the exam in the morning before hitting the hay. While I chilled in my room, doing a bit of casual relaxation therapy (read: drinking), Tash and the ever popular, ever entertaining Papa Chocolate (read: Rory Lim) came home.

Papa Chocolate

 I hadn't seen Rory since our days living together in the LadPad in Brisbane, so it was a great pleasure to catch up with him again and shoot some breeze about what had been happening in our respective lives. Then it was off to sleep to get some repast before I ended up being too hungover for the next day.

The actual competition was a bit overwhelming at first. Myself, Brewer, Rory and our mutual friend (and ex-barmanager) Chris Geddes all went for a spot of breakfast to take the edge off our anxiety, or at least thats what I felt we were doing. After a bit of dutch courage (well, eggs benedict - it has holland-aise sauce, right?), we all turned up at the Argyle in Sydney's rocks district.

I'm going to be brave as fuck after this.

There was a massive crowd hanging outside the main archway/gate, populated by a lot of the heavy weights of the Australian bar industry, but there were also a few names that were prominent in their absence. Martin Lange, Ryan Noreiks, Dustin Davis, Neilsen Braid... Was Andy Griffiths there? I'm not sure, I didn't see him. Nor did I see Mitch Kings, Jimmy from the Bentley turned up late. Timmy Zosh (I will admit, most of these cats are Brisbane boys, but give me a break. Brisbane is home) - I have to admit I was feeling more confident about making the top 20. We were all ushered through to the bar and then upstairs to take a seat and an exam. Simon Mcgoram (ex-editor of Australian Bartedner Mag) ran us through the rules and gave us all an anxiety spike by saying it was going to be a damn hard exam, and then we flipped the page and started writing.

I finished the exam first, after about 10 minutes.

I'm fully aware of how much everyone hates that guy. And I really do hate being that guy, but I walked out of that exam with a slight smile on my face, knowing full well that a whole year of studying for an exam really does make you pretty confident on the walk out.

Seriously, it's just douche-bag behaviour

There were a few questions that I missed out on, and for the life of me still have no idea of the answer to (What liquer is celebrating its 150th birthday this year? And what did the guy who started Cointreau distillery in 1849 do before he started that? If anyone wants to throw it in a comment somewhere, that'd be swell), but all in all, I felt I'd done pretty well. This was ratified when my name was read out by the Rum Ambassador to the world Ian Burrel as having made it through to the top 20 bartenders in the country. I couldn't help but keep a grin off my face when Papa Chocolate and Brewer's names were announced as well. I'd also like to give a congrats shout-out to Guy from the Carlton Yacht Club. I didn't get a chance to see him for the rest of the show, but he was a stand-out lad. I'd also like to throw a consolitory 'hard luck' to Max Greco from Eau De Vie, who missed out by a half mark. That guy can mix a drink, so it sucked to see him left out.

The second round of the comp was a blind tasting and a service round. They kept us all in a little back room and called us all out one at a time to go and do our due, so there were a few shenanigans happening back of house as we all waited to be let out. Rory took the chance to do a bit of meditating before he went out, so I followed suit and imagined myself going out there and killing it. When it was my time to go out, I felt more confident walking behind the bar than I usually do when I'm at work. I felt at peace, and at home, and ready to crack a few jokes. The service round this year, we were all required to make a White Lady (gin, cointreau and lemon juice, usually with a dash of egg white, but we didn't have any), a G&T and a Dark & Stormy (again, usually with Goslings, but we only had the Mt. Gay range to play with). They didn't tell us what they'd be scoring us on, so I just did my thing. I paid special attention to my process and technique, but didn't let that take over my service. I had a bit of a chat, had a bit of a laugh and did a bit of salesmanship to really improve the drinks that I was pushing. I think this more than anything contributed to my feeling of confidence as I walked out of the bar and into the blind tasting. It was here that my confidence abandoned me. We were required to taste 3 beers (I don't really drink much beer), 3 sparklings (I don't do champagne, either) and 3 white spirits (... I don't really need to say it, do I). I left those ones to the fates (the beers were Pilsener Urquell, Coopers Sparkling Ale and Stones Ginger beer, sparklings were Magners Pear, Charles Heidsek and Muscato and the spirits were Stoli elite, sagatiba pura and mozart dry).

Wait... I think its... What is that?

The rest of Monday was dedicated to getting loose with a bunch of bartenders while our marks were consolidated and compared and all those other things that judges have to do. I'm pretty sure that forcing anticipation is an integral part of every competition, so we were left waiting til 8pm that night before we found out the results. Again, Ian Burrel was enlisted to read the roll. The top 10 this year were (in the order that I can remember them):

1. Adam Brewer from Cloudland - A very knowledgable and professional bartender, and a good mate. Winner of this year's Australian World Class.

2. Chris Denman from Surf Club - A down-to-earth bloke and very approachable. Mixes a mean Trilby.

3. Gerald Faundez from X&Y - Don't really know this cat, but I've seen him mix drinks and he knows his shit.

4. Nick Edwards from The Lark - Previous runner up in 2008 and all round loose cannon. Has much love for whisky, which almost makes him a soulmate.

5. Reece Griffiths from Victoria Room - One of the cool cats from Sydney. Awesome sense of humour that shines behind the bar, and owner of one of the coolest tats I've ever seen.

6. Lee Potter Cavanagh from Victoria Room - Previous finalist and manager of VR. Big fan of his rums and sports a massive moustache. Go and ask him about his role as Ambassador of Punch.

7. Nathan Beasley from Black Pearl - I met Nathan really for the first time at Bar Show, but I've been privvy to most of his privvy parts thanks to my housemate's Black Pearl Nude Calendar. Going by his bio, seems like a cool guy.

8. Mick Edmunds from Leftbank and Siglo - Ex-Bowery boy, so he gets much love from the Brisbane Massive. Finalist from last year, and mixed my favourite drink in last year's comp.

9. Jason Williams from Galley Room - 'Widget', as everyone seems to know him by, is a very cool cat. Had a few chats with him over the course of the show, and he seemed very down to earth. Very keen to drop in for a few at his new joint down in Melbourne. He's placed third for the past two years.

10. Yours truly.

Anyway guys, this one has gone on beyond its due. I'll throw up another post in a few days detailing part two of the Bartender of the Year comp, and throw down my recipes for my drinks I presented. In the meant time, I leave you with this.