The view you’ll have for Cutthroat Cocktail. Photo by Brian Addison.
We might have provided you with a guide to some of the best drinks being offered during Sip LBC Week—please tell us you’ve had the Snap Dragon at James Republic or the Fernet Fashioned at Gaucho?—but Sip isn’t just about the drinking for one’s self.
It’s also about the art of crafting cocktails, an endeavor that requires biological talent by way of tastebuds and the olfactory system, the knowledge of a plethora of spirits, brands and ingredients, and just sheer skill in knowing proportions and the aesthetic of presentation.
Enter Cutthroat Cocktail tomorrow evening, the libation-centered competition which mimics the famed Kitchen version on television and aims to put some of Long Beach’s best beverage connoisseurs to the test. For the foodies obsessed with all-things-grub on TV, Chef Rahm Fama, host of Food Network’s Meat & Potatoes, will serve as emcee.
Originally slated to occur in Fuego, the event has been moved into Hotel Maya’s esplanade so that not only more viewers can enjoy the competition but will also have the best view of Long Beach via the south bay’s waterfront.
Gentlemen’s Drink founder and cocktail guru Daniel Flores, James Republic’s bar master Jonathan Miller, EJ Malloy’s Michael Rausa, and Penny Panganiban of Rocks Cocktail Lounge will all be given $250 to begin with and go through a variety of rounds that will test their cocktail-making skills as well their competitive prowess.
“They’re gonna get a challenge of sorts—let’s say make a margarita,” said Alexis Amato of Hotel Maya. “They’ll have 30 seconds to get their ingredients from the pantry and make a killer margarita. The judges will then have the power to provide two or three sabotages to the contestants.”
For example, sabotages can be used to ruin an opponent by buying an ingredient that prohibits the opponent from using said ingredient—say, a lime, which would be difficult to work without in a margarita challenge.
“Contestants can bid against one another for sabotages,” Amato said. “So if someone says, ‘I’ll buy that sabotage for ten bucks,’ another can raise the cost to $20. The money comes from their initial $250 and whatever they have left is theirs to keep—so they’ll have to be wise.”
Fear not, for those unwilling to pay the pricey $75-per-ticket price tag. Each of the contestant’s concoctions will be featured at the bar they are representing. (And in Mr. Flores’s case, that would be The Federal Bar.)
Tickets to Cutthroat Cocktail are $75, of which partial proceeds will be benefit Team Spirit Long Beach. The event will be held tomorrow, September 23 from 7PM to 9PM at Hotel Maya, located at 700 Queensway Drive. each guest will receive a complimentary “562” cocktail plus a signed copy of Rahm Fama’s new book Meat and Potatoes and a gift bag.
{FG_GEOMAP [33.757081,-118.19864440000003] FG_GEOMAP}