“Winning the competition will help me share my recipes and ideas so others can have some fun,” he said.
The second year of the competition brought eight finalists – four from a northern contest and four from the south – to Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal to showcase Belvedere vodka, 10 Cane rum, Centinela tequila, Prairie Organic gin, Hennessy cognac, Grand Marnier, Chandon Sparkling, and Ardberg 10-year single malt Scotch. The creativity was cutting-edge, says R &R Director of Marketing, John Oliver.
“At this year’s Iron Shaker competition we saw some really great and unusual garnishes, beautiful presentations and a great sense of playfulness,” he said.
Indeed, judges Deborah Smith of Jersey Bites, cocktail expert and author Warren Bobrow, and Montclair Food & Wine Festival co-founder Melody Kettle expressed delight over some of the innovations: Second-place winner Jonas Koep of Stone House in Warren poured a chamomile cocktail from a China tea pot into dainty tea glasses and warmed up skirt steak skewers in a Foreman grill to pair with one of his beverages. Matt Brown from Pig & Prince in Montclair lit a cedar plank on fire to smoke the inside of dozens of little plastic serving cups. Rob Sorenson of Lefty’s Tavern in Barnegat muddled balsamic vinegar with mint he grows in his own garden before mixing the concoction with pureed pineapple. And for the spicy round, Lenny Schafer of The Iron Room in Atlantic City served up a trio of mini-drinks on a plate interspersed with spoonfuls of palate-cooling sorbet.
Some competitors, like Jansma, kept their recipes relatively simple while others put upwards of ten ingredients into some of their drinks.
“I brought about 30 ingredients and pepperoni is one of them,” laughed Koep.
On other tables, food integrated into the drinks in critical ways, from the house-smoked fresh grapefruit used by third-place winner Steve Fette from Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club in Bedminster to the homemade chocolate malted marshmallow in a Schafer drink and the spreadable cold-smoked salami spread pushed into mini-ice cream cones that decorated Brown’s spicy entry.
The optional food component allowed bartenders to reflect and highlight the complexities in some of the spirits. Said Paula Congote of Phillips Distilling Company, maker of Prairie Organic Gin and Centinela tequila, “This competition is a perfect opportunity for gin to come out of the closet. Our gin complements all kinds of flavors, from smoky to citrusy to sugary.”
As for Jansma and his additions and garnishes of cotton candy, pop rocks, housemade blackberry hot sauce and sweet pea puree, he says he was simply trying to bring interesting cocktails that are in harmony.
“You can play with so many flavors,” he said, “but sometimes you only need the perfect balance of a few.”