After travelling the country to visit the finalists the winning team heading to Moscow to take on the Russian and French teams has been announced.
The Mamont Circumpolar Competition gave bartenders the opportunity to win one of the most original and sought after prizes we have ever featured on BarLifeUK – a trip on an ice-class wooden sailing ship around the Arctic for a week.
Unsurprisingly the entries were plentiful and of great quality so even the finalists can be very proud of getting to that stage.
Mamont decided with such a big prize the judging process should be as thorough as possible which saw us travelling to the finalists bars for them to show us what they had.
It wasn’t just about the drink though as each entrant teamed up with a chef to create a dish to match with their cocktail. Both the drink and the food had to be inspired by Siberia and the Spirit of Adventure.
Our travels saw us in Nottingham (Boilermaker), Aberdeen (99 Bar & Kitchen and Amicus Apple) and London (Made in the Shade and Loves Company/Forgotten Hospitality), filling our faces with lovely food and knocking back some superb Mamont cocktails.
The winning pair really had to excel to beat the competition and it was the team of Stuart from Made in the Shade and Scully from Ottolengi who had the edge. They’ll be heading over to Moscow to compete against teams from Russia and France to battle for the chance to get onto the boat.
Seeing as the final is still to come we don’t want to give the opposition to much info on the winning pairing. We can tell you that both the drink and the food separately we amazing and combined were even better.
We can also give you a picture to get your mouths watering and let you know in their own words what Stuart and Scully’s thought process was:
‘The idea behind the drink and food is to be taken on an adventure of taste across a Siberian forest. With the food giving the look of a forest. The crispy pork skin will be made to look like the tusk of a mammoth. And the venison is representative of the deer which they would eat in Siberia.’
We wish the boys the best of luck in Moscow with the final and the others are going to have to produce something really special to be in the hunt. We will of course bring you all of the news from the final as soon as it happens.
A big thank you to all the finalists for their efforts and superb hospitality in their venues and a special thanks to Carolina from Adelhi Kitchen for helping out with the judging in Aberdeen.