G’Vine Gin Connoisseur 2011

Hectic, fun, nerve-racking, instructive, joyful, extraordinary and just i teeny tiny boozy

The last week has been all of the above !

I was one of the lucky 15 world finalists competing in the G’Vine Gin Connoisseur 2011 last week, and what a week it was indeed!

This post will feature the competition part of the week, and I’ll follow up with some photos and a little gossip later on

First of all I have to say; This is by far the most challenging competition I’ve ever done! (Being the 2nd one I’ve ever done, I realise that’s not exactly the best testimonial they’ve ever gotten ). I’ve always despised bartending competitions because of the thought of being judged on one cocktail only, which has been the norm where I live. This is not that kind of competition – far from it actually.

Finalists either qualify thru preliminary rounds which were held in UK, USA, Canada, Germany and Spain or as a wildcard online (I’m one of those) with a different set of tasks to complete. Finalists are then flown in from around the world to meet in the World Finals of the GCP, G’Vine Connoisseur Programe, which are held in Cognac.

The competition lasts for three, (yes – 3!), days and consists of 6 challenges.

The challenges;

#1 Speed Mixing Round
Each contestant was asked to make 1 Floral Martini (Stirred), 1 Jasmine (Shaken), 1 Negroni, 1 G’Vine Floraison + Fever Tree Tonic and 1 G’Vine Nouaison + Fentimans Tonic (all built) as fast as possible – or within 4 min and 25 sec to avoid time penalty. In addition, competitors are also judged on teqnique.

Sounds easy enough doesen’t it? Well – it’s not!
When I did my practise round at home, relaxed and no pressure I might add, my fastest time was 3.39 – quite respectable I would say. Then re-locate to beautiful Cognac, place one Phillip Duff (!), one Gary Regan(!!), 2 world known bloggers; Camper English and GinMonkey, one photographer and oh the horror one filmguy in front of you and….. GO!

Not so easy anymore you said? Spot on. It’s called nerves.

#2 Make your own Gin
This challenge was my absolute favorite! We we’re all given an Ugni Blanc base spirit (same as for the G’vine Floraison & Nouaison) and different botanical destilates such as juniper (duh), cubeb pepper, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg etc …and asked to blend our very own gin!

Every bartenders dream – though, much harder than one might think. (Not really – no one ever thought this was going to be easy did they?)

The biggest difficulty we had, we were told, was to dilute the gin to a comercial viable abv. Apparently bartenders are quite fond of the strong stuff, so most of the gins ended up around 60-70% abv. (Less is more – Less water that is)

Day 2

#3 Aroma Test
Aroma tests are always challenging, at least if you listen to your brain and not your nose…. 

We started the day with an aroma class, from which the test later would be taken from – to a certen extend. I’ve always been facinated by how the mind works when it comes to memory and taste & aroma. Nedless to say; I loved this seminar. Maybe I should go to “perfume” school and make a wearable cocktail?

After a short breake we were given 30 minutes to complete the test, which included recognising aromas such as; Bergamot, Juniper, Cinnamon, Liquorice, Cedar wood, Ylang Ylang and Honeysuckle to mention a few. 
Amongst others we had to classify some of the different aromas by family and figure out which concentrate others were (1%, 5%, 10%).

If anyone is faced with this type of challenge – my tip is; Go with your instincts – don’t listen to your brain!

#4 (The dreaded) Free Pouring Test
My least favorite challenge….. not because it’s so difficult necessarily, but because I SUCK at it. We were given 25 seconds (before time penalties were given) to freepour all 11 spirit meassures from the Speed Mixing Round.
This meaning (for me); 3 x 45 ml G’Vine Floraison, 1 x 45 ml G’Vine Nouaison, 1 x 30 ml G’Vine Floraison, 1 x 30 ml Campari, 1 x 30 ml Carpano, 1 x 15 ml each of Campari, Cointreau, Esprit de June & Noilly Prat.

I have no idéa how it went, but one thing is certain – there were no “Bubble – one, two , tree” what so ever! To be honest, I can’t really remember any of it. It’s like a 30 second black hole! But at least – it resulted in some nice large drinks.

Day 3

# 5 Written Exam
After falling asleep with Gary Regans ” Bartenders Gin Compendium” the last couple of weeks, it was actually quite nice to finally do the written exam. That is – untill I saw it. In after thought, I should have studied the G’Vine Compendium equally hard. Oh well, at least now I know more about Genever than I ever have before. Maybe I should even write my own Der Naturen Bloeme 2.0 in norwegian – and not to forget, in rhyme!

# 6 Summer Ball
Saving the best for last! This challenge was SO much FUN! We were each given our own bar to decorate – then serve our Signature G’Vine Cocktail to the guests at the ball.

My cocktail was the Secret Garden, which I named after my favorite Bruce Springsteen song. Originally I was going to use the Floraison – the only one available in Norway, but they sent me the Nouaison which arrived the day before I had to submit my recipe – and you know what?

It was LOVE at first sight sip.

So I had to change my recipe…. As always, I wanted to stay true to the spirit and emphesise the love that is already there, so I knew I wanted to go with the floral theme – hence the elderflower.
Since it was going to be served at a summer ball, I wanted the drink to be fresh and simple (guests might like it you know ) so I added some fresh lemon. To make it more complex I decided to go with Maraschino and the local Pineau des Charantes – both matches the “woody” elements of the gin.

All in all, I’m quite happy with my drink! I wanted it to be an “easy-to-sell” cocktail and if (or when) the G’Vine Nouaison becomes available in Norway I will definitly put it on my menu! ( If only for bragging rights)

All guests at the ball were given 5 tokens to “pay” for their favorite cocktails and they could choose how many tokens they wanted to give each bartender.

After counting the votes,  one by one, the winner of GCP 2011 was finally announced – and it was the amazing Gegam Kazarian from Spain who took home the platinum G’Vine Pin
There were of course other prizes to; A one year (!) supply of G’Vine Gin to your bar , and since Gegam works in Spain I would think that’s quite a lot – good thing he doesn’t work in the Philippines! And of course –  an intercontinental bar tour of the worlds best gin bars.

As for me, I came 7th – which is far better than I thought! Especially after the glory that was free pouring and not to forget my wonderfull speed mixing round.

Would I ever do this again? Of course – in a heart beat!
The competition was amazing – only thing topping it was the people!  (More on this later)

As for now,

Au revoir & Santé