Mixing cocktail adventures in Queenstown
04 Sep 2008
Global movers and shakers are in New Zealand’s best known alpine resort Queenstown showing off their bartending prowess as part of the 2008 42BELOW Cocktail World Cup.
The 45 competitors from around the globe work will be working completely out of their comfort zone mixing finely tuned bartending skills with extreme adventure as they try to impress the international judges.
Cocktails, spectacle and skiing
It’s the fifth year of the 42BELOW Cocktail World Cup, and a record number of visitors is expected to travel to Queenstown to take advantage of the spectacle as well as prime skiing conditions currently on offer in the region.
Fifteen bartender teams will spend five days from September 9 - 13 battling for the coveted title of Cocktail World Champion taking over the throne from the 2007 winning team, Team Vegas USA.
Post-bungy pour
The 2008 competition isn’t for the faint hearted. International contenders will be literally thrown in the deep end when they step off the plane in Queenstown.
Since the resort is the home of bungy, competitors will be required to go straight to the site of the AJ Hacket Bungy and make the 42 metre jump down to the Kawerau River. They’ll then have to do a Free Pour accuracy test despite any jet lag or post-bungy jitters.
Other testing activities will include making modern mocktails at the Shotover Jet - another of Queenstown’s extreme adventure activities. The resort town will also see contestants take part in impromptu cocktail making from randomly provided ingredients, bar challenges and performance cocktail making.
International mix
Countries represented at this year’s event include France, Italy, South East Asia, United States, China/Hong Kong, Australia, Ireland, England, New Zealand, and Scotland.
Each of the elimination events will be overseen by a team of highly qualified judges from the US, England, Japan and New Zealand. They include New Zealand’s award winning chef and culinary adventurer, Jason Dell who is a former New Zealand Chef of the Year. Jason is currently Executive Chef at the exclusive Blanket Bay Lodge in Glenorchy, near Queenstown.
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