In January of 2009, Johnny Rocco’s launched the first annual Iron Chef Niagara event, pitting 8 local chefs against each other, in a series of events supporting a handful of local children’s charities. In the end, we were able to raise nearly $23,000. Based on the success of last year’s events, we thought it would only be fitting to expand the focus to the bar as well.
Iron Bartender kicked off this past Tuesday, February 23 with our first event sponsored by El Jimador tequila. Our featured bartenders were commissioned to created two El Jimador cocktails, the first featuring the spirit and any additional ingredients they wanted. The second cocktail was done blackbox style, with our bartenders limited to El Jimador and the following ingredients.
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Nutella Limes Strawberries Peach Juice Cadbury Mini Eggs Doritos Mystery Flavour Woodland ‘Liquid Smoke’ Hickory Oil Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette Cinnamon Blackberry Jam Ginger Beer Spiced Berry Cordial Fuzzy |
Peach Slice Candy Apples Grapefruit BOLS Apricot Brandy Galliano Marie Brizard Triple Sec Bolla Valpolicella Chai Tea Oatmeal-Coconut Cookies Water Soda Water Simple Syrup |
I was joined by local bartender Sonia Fillion, and in the end, a random selection of judges deemed my ‘Strawberry Passion Awareness’ (I know, I lost points on originality) cocktail — a blend of El Jimador, Galliano, Nutella, Lime, Strawberry, and simple syrup, the winner. I’m not quite sure how I feel about winning my own cocktail competition, but it was a ton of fun.
The next night, at our Iron Bartender event at Johnny Rocco’s Niagara Falls, we were joined by bartenders Troy Dowhaniuk (Jack Astor’s Hamilton) and Shawn Murphy (Artisanal Palate Catering) in an event sponsored by Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum. Same format, same group of random ingredients, but this pairing of bartenders gave us much different results, with a much more creative use of the mystery flavours. The voting was very close, but in the end, Troy’s drink was declared the winner. His cocktail, “Grandpa Jack’s Cider” combined Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, Galliano, peach juice, cinnamon, and chai tea. Troy scored extra points on presentation, with his rim of cinnamon and blackberry jam.
Troy will move on to compete in the semi-finals in St. Catharines on April 27th (sponsored by Campari), and I will move on to the Niagara Falls event on the following day (sponsored by Sarpa di Poli Grappa).
The next round of competition will be March 23rd and 24th with events sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin, and Woodford Reserve bourbon, respectively.
Thank you so much to everyone who came out, and to the sponsors who have helped us make this event happen!
To see the rest of the photos, click here.
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Love nutella, nam nam like it a lot