Cocktail celebration for Capital of Culture year

Sep 11 2007 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

A FRENZY of cocktail-shaking broke out at a Liverpool city centre restaurant last night in a contest to find the official Capital of Culture cocktail for 2008.

The event at the Racquet Club, held as part of the Liverpool Food Lovers’ Festival, saw 11 cocktail-makers pitted against each other to produce the winning cocktail as decided by a panel of expert judges, led by Jamie Stephen-son from the Bar Academy.

They were judged according to four criteria – the presentation, practicality and taste of the drink, and how well it represents Liverpool. The Alma de Cuba bar in Seel Street achieved a clean sweep by the end of the night, with bar tenders Nick Thomas and Danny Murphy winning first and second places respectively.

Nick, 25, said: “I wanted to create a cocktail that reflected Liverpool by making it vibrant, refreshing and creative.

“It was also simple to produce, but tasted and smelt great.”

Nick’s winning cocktail will be known simply as the “08”.

Each of the city’s bars will have the right to serve the con-coction until the end of 2008.