Overview
As part of the Beam Bar Legend competition which took place during October, Stolen Rum hosted the ‘Stolen Rum Bar Chat Challenge’ which pitched the top bartenders from around the country against each other to see who has the best bar banter.
We were fortunate enough to be invited along to be part of the challenge; which included picking out topics for six of NZ’s best barmen (including one bar-lady) to talk for two minutes on the spot while making a Stolen drink, and sampling vast quantities of Stolen Rum (for quality control purposes only, of course). The cocktail maestros were judged on their quality banter including points for style, flair, humour, and creativity, as well as their drink. Chat topics included ‘Things You Should Never Do After Bartending' and ‘Your Best Pick Up Chat.’ Judges included Stolen Area Director Andrew Skehan, Beam National On Premise & Wholesale Manager Ben Stuart, and last year’s Beam Bar Legend Winner Chase Bikerton.
The challenge involved all sorts of fun things from a friendly bit of 'kidnapping' to a special take home gift of a brand new Stolen spiced rum – Stolen Coffee & Cigarettes – an innovative world-first product that has recently been launched into the US - the unique spiced rum combining Coffee and Tobacco flavours. It has also launched in Australia but with a censored label due to anti-tobacco advertising legislation. Stolen Rum will look to bring the product to NZ in 2014 and being the shifty type that we are, we already have our mitts on a bottle and can confirm it is a darn good drop.
The winner of the challenge was none other than Aucklander Adam Neal from Britomart's Racket and Orleans, who beat 480 entrants from all over New Zealand to win.
Recipe /// Stolen Punch
And if you fancy trying your own pick up chat with someone special perhaps you should throw together Adam's winning drink - he's kindly provided us with the recipe below:
30ml Stolen SX9
30ml Stolen Gold
30ml Cinzano Rosso
10ml Maple syrup
20ml Lime juice
30ml Orange juice
30ml Pineapple juice
Throw it all together, shake it like a Polaroid picture and serve in a metal tin with a sprig of mint as garnish, and cracked ice.