Serrallés USA, exclusive importers of premium Puerto Rican rum DonQ, announces its “MixItUp 2010 Mixology Challenge” in partnership with the United States Bartenders’ Guild (USBG). Over the past few months, USBG bartenders were challenged to demonstrate the depth of their craft by creating innovative cocktails using the entire line of DonQ Rums.
USBG chapters held local cocktail competitions in March and April to determine the 15 finalists who will compete in the national event. The winners of these regional contests each will receive a DonQ Rum kit and a trip to the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, where they will participate in the MixItUp 2010 Mixology Challenge semi-final competition, slated for May 17.
The national finalists headed to NY for the “MixItUp 2010 Mixology Challenge” semi-final competition are:
Bill Norris, Austin
Dub Davis, Dallas
Charles Joly, Chicago
Noah Heaney, Denver
Kristina Howald, Southern California
John Lermayer, Miami
Mathias Simonis, Milwaukee
Rhiannon Enlil, New Orleans
Brian Matthys, New York
Tony Devencenzi, Northern California
Nate Selsor, St. Louis
Kyle Reutner, Hawaii
Darren West, Las Vegas
Matthew Doerr, Phoenix
Andreas Kaluli, Philadelphia
An esteemed jury panel will judge the cocktails and then select the finalists, who together will compete as the USBG U.S. Drink Team against the Puerto Rico Drink Team at the MixItUp 2010 Mixology Challenge Finals. This international competition will be held at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico during La Noche de San Juan festivities. As finalists, the U.S. Drink team also will enjoy exclusive tours of the world-renowned Destilería Serrallés — home to DonQ Rum — and the Serrallés Castle.
“With the participation of incredible bartenders coming from all of our USBG chapters along with partnering with DonQ, celebrating 150 years of craft and heritage from the Land of the Rum, this competition is possibly the most difficult competition that the Guild has ever hosted,” says Livio Lauro, USBG president. “But that’s not all: Once the five lucky winners are announced, their job is still not done; they still need to go to Puerto Rico to compete against our fellow bartenders from the Puerto Rican Guild. They will get to work with the exceptional flavors DonQ offers, which give a solid base to cocktails but also challenge the skills of the finest mixologists to test the boundaries due to DonQ’s extra-oak aging process. Not easy…but fun…and tasty.” Read more here.