For many of you creating your own blend, mix, shrub, syrup, cordial, inclusion etc is second nature when entering a cocktail competition. Gabriel Boudier are taking this one step further.
They are asking UK bartenders to create an original and unique new liqueur. The winning recipe will be added into the Gabriel Boudier range and launched in August 2018, along with a cash prize of £1,000.
This is the second time that Gabriel Boudier have run this competition, back in 2015 Samuel Boulton, from Birmingham, took out the top spot and the following year his Kaffir Lime Leaf Liqueur was launched into the Gabriel Boudier range. A video from Samuel of how he created his winning recipe can be found at the end of this article.
How It Works
You will be asked to create a liqueur that is a flavour not commercially available in the UK and enter this through the Emporia Brands website. To help you along the way you will be supplied with a bottle of neutral sugar beet alcohol to perfect your recipe (email info@emporiabrands.com to get your hands on the bottle).
There is also a video at the end of the article by Constanca Cordeiro from Peg & Patriot which will give you a few tips and tricks.
There will be three heats across the UK – Scotland & Northern Ireland, The Midlands & The North and Wales & The South. Each of the heats will feature 10 bartenders who will be chosen by a judging panel led by Emporia director Jack Rackham and Samuel.
The winner from each of these heats will be invited to Dijon in January of 2018 to compete against each other for the grand prize.
The Rules
As you might imagine with a competition like this there are a few rules to adhere to. So here we go.
- Your recipe must be a liqueur, defined as either a) crème (ABV of over 15%, sugar content of over 250 g/l) or b) a liqueur (ABV of over 15%, sugar content of over 100 g/l).
- Your liqueur recipe must use a neutral spirit alcohol, with no limits to what ingredients you wish to include in your creation. The final recipe however must be a flavour that is currently not commercially available in your market. Emporia Brands will, on request, supply neutral sugar beet alcohol, the same base as used by Gabriel Boudier (the competition is about the ingredients, not the base alcohol). It is, however, a condition, following Gabriel Boudier’s policy, that you must only use 100% natural ethically sourced ingredients, with no artificial or synthesised flavours or colourings.
- There is no restriction on how you create your liqueur, using either distillation, percolation, infusion, maceration or maturation. NB Some ingredients can, during these processes, create harmful by-products; these are unlikely to affect most recipes, but recipes must be submitted in advance for checking, and Emporia Brands reserves the right to disqualify any entry on the grounds of safety.
- Entrants will discover that the optimum times for the above processes varies according to the ingredient – some very quick, some require weeks. Emporia Brands is happy to comment on any entrant’s recipe in line with the rules above.
- The liqueur must be presented in a final filtered quality, ready to serve, but may include any of the ingredients in solid form if part of the final recipe.
- It is a condition of entry that there is no intellectual property retained by the entrant, should the recipe be selected for commercial production no entitlement to financial or any other benefit will accrue to the entrant.
So if you fancy getting a trip to Dijon, £1,000 and your own liqueur recipe joining the Gabriel Boudier range then this is your chance, and let’s face it, it’s a chance that doesn’t come up very often.
To get your hands on the free bottle of neutral sugar beet alcohol email info@emporiabrands.com and to enter your recipe or find out more information visit the Emporia website.
The deadline for entries is October 1st 2017.