The 26th Marie Brizard International Cocktail Challenge Final and International Bartender Seminar took place in Bordeaux, France early last December. After holding qualifying series around the world over the past year, 36 competitors, representing 30 nations were invited to Bordeaux for the finals.
The most awarded Brazilian bartender, Rogerio Rabbit, who finished 3rd last year at this same competition, came to the 2008 edition with a Leblon recipe. Rabbit has created the cocktail menus for great bars in São Paulo, such as Café Journal and Banana Café.
Rabbit went through the first round, finishing first of his group, with a Leblon cocktail.
The Brazilian Soul of Marie
4cl Leblon Cachaça
2cl Marie Brizard Anisette
1cl Marie Brizard limoncini
8 Pieces fresh white grapes
5 Fresh basil leaves
On the 2nd and last day of the challenge, the final 8 competitors went to Chateau du Taillan, outside Bordeaux. The 2nd round worked on a “mystery ingredient box” basis, where competitors had to demonstrate creativity and flexibility on a short length of time. The goal was to create one cocktail in no more than 7 minutes with the ingredients from the box. Rabbit won against Maxime Hoerth, from the George V Hotel in Paris, Maxime who also choose Leblon as main ingredient on his original recipe on the 1st round.
On the 3rd round and Ultimate Final, the last 4 bartenders had a larger “mystery box” and this time the goal was to create 3 different cocktails within 10 minutes with a previous 5 minute set up.
The final result of last years competition was:
Gold Award: José Abarullo, Venezuela
Silver Award, Rogerio Rabbit, Brazil
Bronze Award, Jan Schaefer, Germany
4th place: Kolodziej Bartlomiej, Poland
