By Sacha Delfosse
Brown-Forman will host a cocktail competition for Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey at Canberra’s Knightsbridge Penthouse tonight (Aug 1).
Out of 17 initial entries, six finalists were chosen, who will be producing and presenting two cocktails each, in front of four judges and guests.
Competitors will be assessed and awarded points for flavour, presentation, balance as well as their knowledge of the Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee brand.
The six finalists are: Roger Cameron and Peter Thomson from the Knightsbridge Penthouse; Geoff Fewell from Pelagic; Samuel Cumming from Hippo; Daniel O'Brien from Suburban; and Nirmal Lorensuhewa from Kremlin.
Brown-Forman decided to host the competition in Canberra to engage with the city’s bar scene, which sometimes gets overlooked despite boasting a number of high quality venues and bartenders.
“Canberra bartenders are really sponges for knowledge and they want more training and ideas. It’s a small scene but definitely not a scene that should be overlooked,” Brown-Forman NSW brand ambassador, Stuart Reeves, said.
“There may not be as many venues in Canberra as the bigger cities, but there are plenty of good quality bars there, a few venues like Knightsbridge Penthouse, Parlour and Hippo, have all been around a long time and become local institutions while there are also several new venues like Kennedy Room that are making a mark.”
Apart from giving Canberra bartenders the opportunity to compete in a cocktail competition, and giving local bars some due attention, Reeves says the competition is also about extending people’s understanding of what they can do with Gentleman Jack.
“Brown-Forman wants to educate people more on Gentleman Jack and breakdown some misconceptions and illusions people may have about it, we want to show people that it is in fact very mixable and easy to use.”
“A competition like this can help show its versatility, Gentleman Jack actually lends itself well to being used in cocktails due to its flavour profile,” Reeves explained.