Last night, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney played host to the Australian finals of the BACARDÍ Legacy Global Cocktail Competition 2018/19.
After much deliberation, a fair amount of showmanship and the creation of some amazing drinks, Jenna Hemsworth of Sydney’s Restaurant Hubert was announced the winner.
Hemsworth’s drink, The Monarch, is a mix of Bacardi Carta Blanca, Dom Benedictine, Mandarin Juice, Lime Juice & Basil.
The Journey
PIN ITThe BACARDÍ Legacy finalists: Will Krepop, Jenna Hemsworth, Millie Tang, and David Robinson.Image via Australian Bartender Magazine
It’s been a long and extremely inspiring journey for Hemsworth. Last year, she won the Australian Bartender of the Year award. In the award’s 18 year history, she was the first woman to receive the honour and the significance of that achievement was not lost on her.
As part of the win, Hemsworth became a wild card entry into the Australian finals of Bacardi Legacy. As Bacardi themselves have said, “A ‘BACARDÍ® Legacy cocktail’ is more than just a great tasting drink: it is a drink that stands the test of time and becomes established in the industry.”
But the competition is not just about the drink and its presentation. It includes a fundamental promotional phase, where bartenders are challenged to demonstrate that their drink has the potential to become established in the drinks industry as a true classic.
For Hemsworth. this is where the competition became interesting.
The Campaign
“Self-promotion is something I’m not at all comfortable with,” Hemsworth told bartenderatlas.com, “and being put forward in that competition brought forward lots of anxiety and self-doubt about my promotional/marketing abilities!”
“I instead chose to take a different approach and play to my strengths by creating a project I am passionate and excited about,” she continued. “Essentially each day I profiled a woman ( …a term not bound by gender …) who is trailblazing in her field, inspiring to those around her.”
It was this desire to share these stories from which her cocktail, The Monarch, was born. Through her campaign and the drink itself, she hoped to encourage others to share the motivating stories of the woman in their lives.
“Inspired by the strong women in our industry, this drink was created as a celebration of them,” Hemsworth said. “This drink still stands as a symbol of the strong women in our lives and what they do for us, and a celebration of our journey toward equality.
“I hope to create a positive movement with this project.”
In the end, Hemsworth’s inspired use of BACARDÍ Carta Blanca coupled with a flair for promotion both on and off stage won the judges over.
Hemsworth will continue her journey when she travels to Amsterdam in May, where she will compete on the international stage for the ultimate title in the BACARDÍ Legacy Global Cocktail Competition.
The Cocktail
In the hope that you will also get inspired, to make this for your friends at home, we have included the recipe for the winning cocktail below
The Monarch by Jenna Hemsworth from Restaurant Hubert, Sydney
Ingredients
45 ml Bacardi Carta Blanca
15 ml Dom Benedictine
30 ml Mandarin Juice
Peel of one Mandarin
20 ml Lime Juice
8 Basil Leaves
Instructions
Shake all ingredients hard to properly infuse the peel and release the basil oils.
Double strain into a coupette glass.
Garnish with a young basil sprig.
Tonight’s announcement also fell on Barardi’s Founders Day – a day to celebrate the legacy and fearless journey of the Bacardi family over the last 157 years.
To keep the journey going we thought we’d also include the three other cocktails that made it to the Australian finals (in no particular order).
Altura by Will Krepop from Jungle Boy, Melbourne
Ingredients
60 ml Bacardi Carta Blanca
25 ml pineapple syrup
15 ml lime juice
lime peel
30 ml sparkling wine
Instructions
Shaken and strained over 30ml dry sparkling wine in a flute.
Mint leaf garnish.
Me Oh My by Millie Tang from The Gresham, Brisbane
Ingredients
45 ml Bacardi Carta Blanca
15 ml Coco Lopez
10 ml lime juice
7.5 ml honey syrup 1:1
5 ml crème de violette
Instructions
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a Nick & Nora glass.
The 18th Amendment by David Robinson from Snapper Rocks, Darwin
Ingredients
50 ml BACARDÍ Ocho
10 ml De Kuyper Crème de Cacao
10 ml Tempus Fugit Crème de Menthe
Rinse with Branca Menta
Instructions
Stir the Ocho, cacao and creme de menthe with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into a Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with a mint leaf.
About Bacardi
The unique taste of BACARDÍ rum has inspired cocktail pioneers to invent some of the world’s most famous cocktail recipes including the Original BACARDÍ Daiquiri, the Original BACARDÍ Mojito, the BACARDÍ Cuba Libre, the BACARDÍ Piña Colada and the BACARDÍ Presidente.
BACARDÍ is the world’s most awarded rum and it is crafted to ensure the taste remains the same today as it did when it was first blended in 1862.
