By Sacha Delfosse
Bacardi Lion has announced the winners of the 2011 De Kuyper Drink Challenge that ran across 84 venues offering $40,000 worth of prizes and attracting over 28,000 consumers votes.
Earlier this year De Kuyper teamed up with bars&clubs magazine to invite several Sydney bartenders to create a signature drink using the new De Kuyper Passionfruit liqueur. The Pony Room’s Michael Frampton won the challenge with his creation, the Pash’n’Dash.
De Kuyper then launched the 2011 De Kuyper Drink Challenge, a competition that asked bartenders across Australia to create their own drink using any product from the world’s number one ranged liqueur – De Kuyper, pitch it against the Pash’n’Dash in their venue and invite their patrons to vote on the drink they preferred.
“The top five winners from the 2011 De Kuyper Drink Challenge were selected based on the highest number of customer votes for their drink via SMS,” Bacardi Lion assistant brand manager for dark spirits & liqueurs, Susana Ng, explains.
“A website automatically tracked the number of votes received. The criteria for the bar’s drink creation were that it had to have at least one De Kuyper product and to be no more than one standard drink.”
Metro City in WA came first with 5894 votes, taking home the main prize of $20,000 with fellow WA venue, Mint Nightclub, taking out second place and winning $10,000.
In third spot was Fluid Lounge from VIC, receiving $5,000. Fourth place went to Paddington Tavern from QLD, which earned $3,000 and Tall Timber Hotel in NSW came fifth and won $2,000.
“There are lots of other bartender competitions, but venues were really excited that the 2011 De Kuyper Drink Challenge had such a large prize pool that was shared between the bartenders and the venue,” Ng says.
“Venues were also enthusiastic about the bespoke marketing kit (pole posters, A4 counter cards, tent cards, drink coasters and business cards) that featured the venue’s name and De Kuyper drink creation.”
Despite Metro City’s creation for the competition, Pure Passion, getting more votes than the Pash’n’Dash, Ng says that due to its simple ingredients and great balance of sweet and sour flavours, the Pash’n’Dash will continue to be a important drink for De Kuyper Passionfruit liqueur.