CONGRATULATIONS to our brother-in-booze, Sam Kershaw, who this evening emerged victorious from the two-day Great British Final of the Appleton Rum Bartender Challenge.
"Sam Jam," who kept bar with Giuseppe Gonzalez at October’s Salon (right) and was much-loved by everyone who paid a visit to Death + Co. or The Hideout last Autumn, qualified through one of four regional heats, where every competitor was required to complete a knowledge test, free-pour examination, and then to make a round of four classic rum drinks (Mojito, Mai Tai, Daiquiri, Jamaican Mule), plus an original cocktail — all within SIX minutes.
With this famous triumph, the 2008 Lounger No. 1 nominee will next month be jetting off to Jamaica to compete in a Grand Final against the world’s finest, where for three hours, he'll have to run a bar for 300 exceedingly thirsty judges. Assuming this doesn't (it won't) conclude in the shape of a pear, our kid will be in with a proper shout of being named the ‘2009 Appleton Bartender of the Year’.
Given that Sam (who's now employed at Rick's Bar in Edinburgh) is painting the West End red right now, details of that original concoction — and the inevitable blow-by-blow account of his remarkable achievement — are still scarce; nevertheless, ladies and gentlemen, your drinks are on the house!
