Tipsy and Jenna bask in the sanguine glow of Pangea's cocktail tables.

On Monday night we went to Pangea, a bar downtown known more for bottle service than for cocktails, to observe the Drambuie cocktail contest. Although I did not show up with the intention of judging the contest, I was selected to replace a gentleman who said he'd rather watch than participate. So I eagerly took my seat at the judge's table.

The contestants were:
Justin Stidham of Pangea with the "Mint McCloud"--muddled lemon, Drambue, Bacardi O, and a splash of 7. He would have done better without the coconut rum or the 7 Up

Lesliann of Lanai with the "Drambuie Dessert"--Baily's Irish Cream, Kahlua, Amaretto Disaronno, with muddled strawberries and strawberry puree; served in a glass rimmed with chocolate sauce and graham crackers. This is the type of drink that I think should be forbidden from contests such as this, not because it doesn't have its place somewhere (I'm not sure where that is) but because you can't judge it next to a real cocktail. It tastes like strawberries and creamy sugary stuff, not like spirits. And it bruises your palate for all of the following cocktails...except the next one, which was almost identical:

Robin Martinez of Prague (I think) with "Honey Chocolate Cream Martini"--when Wes Marshall heard the name of this drink he said, "So it's going to be a dry one, right?" to which the contestant responded with befuddled look. Bailey's, Amaretto, Drambuie, Cream, with a garnish of orange chocolate shavings and an orange chocolate wedge. All of my comments about the previous drink apply to this one.

Joe Castillo with "Piña Limón"-- Drambuie, lemon juice, pineapple juice and Topo Chico. This actually wasn't a bad effort, he just went overboard on the pineapple juice and that's all you could taste.

George's glasses, garnished and ready for the Rambooty". *A note about the "glasses" at Pangea: they were plastic.

George Gutierrez of Pangea, with "Mexican Rambooty"--The puritanical prude in me wishes that the contest rules would proscribe cocktail names that invoke or imply sex or sexual anatomy, because it is tacky and takes away from the professionalism of the event; not to mention the fact that these drinks are usually not very good. George rimmed (he said rimmed!) his glasses with kosher salt and celery salt. He made a mexican martini with Herradura silver, Drambuie, and lime juice, and then jacked it up sweet & sour off the gun, n/a triple sec, rose's lime juice, olive juice, and orange juice. I think he would have been better off if he'd stopped at the first three ingredients instead of going for the kitchen sink margarita that I have described in past posts. Garnished rather elaborately with strips of jalapeño and lime. Despite the adulterative ingredients, I thought this drink deserved a bronze finish for this contest.

Ben is a classicist behind the bar--quick and to-the-point

Ben Craven of Starlite, with the Lorelei--muddled Granny Smith apple, Plymouth gin, Drambuie, calvados, agave nectar. This cocktail was gorgeous, subtle, balanced and delicious. It should have won first place. (it didn't)

Mindy rinsing champagne flutes with Canton ginger liqueur

Mindy Kucan of the Hilton, with "Ginger & Dram"--a glass rinsed with Canton ginger liqueur; muddle candied ginger, add Tito's vodka, orange flower water, Drambuie. I had this drink picked for second place. The idea was right, it just tasted a little off-balance and medicinal/floral, I think because of the orange flower water. Mindy is good at giving cocktails multiple layers and this one had that, but I just felt the balance was off. I was still tasting it 20 min. later, which is a bit more "lingering finish" than I was looking for. A solid effort nonetheless.

And the winners were:
1st Place Mindy Kucan (mazel tov, Mindy!)
2nd Place George Gutierrez (lay off the Rose's and the Sweet & Sour, bro!)
3rd Ben Craven (Sorry, Ben. You really had a winner with the Lorelei. I know it can be hard to take third place again, but just think happy thoughts about how nobody wanted to buy Van Gogh's shit while he was alive, or how Mozart died a poor man and was burried in a pauper's cemetery. Does that cheer you up at all?)

Winners from left to right: George, Mindy, Ben