David going to Paris for Giffard Global Final

David Richard Coe from the Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, Waterford, will represent Ireland in Paris this September for the global final of the Giffard West Cup.

 

Having created the cocktail ‘Minnie the Moocher’ to a background tune of ‘Minnie the Moochers’ by Cab Calloway, this turned out to be only David’s second time entering a cocktail competition.

This year the Giffard West Cup challenged bartenders to create cocktails according to the theme ‘Listen to the Flavours’ using the Giffard range of syrups, liqueurs and Fruit for Mix Purees which has seen significant sales growth over the past few years.

The music that inspired the cocktail had to link a song or piece of music to life behind the bar.

David Richard Coe’s cocktail, for example, reflected a 1920s Speakeasy theme through some of the Prohibition jazz that became popular at the time.

Gifford’s Banana de Brazil, Vanilla de Madagascar and the brand’s most famous Methe de Pastis were combined with a light rum in David’s case.

The competition started in 1997 as a locally-held cocktail competition in a small town on the West coast of France (hence the name). Over the decades the competition has grown to include 18 countries with over 800 bartenders applying to compete in the last competition (held in 2019).

The Irish finals of the cocktail competition were held under sunny Spring skies in The Grayson on Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green and all six finalists found themselves competing for the national title in this the first-ever Irish leg of the Cup.

It was also one of the first in-person mixology competitions to be held since the end of Lockdown here and a refreshing change from office walls.

The other five finalists comprised Jordan Duncan from The Hill in Dublin’s Ranelagh, Emanuele Martucci from The Devlin Hotel in Dublin, Matheus Bonora from Hotel One in Dublin, Jean Michaud from House in Dublin’s Leeson Street and Guido Pietropoli from The Grayson.

The judging panel for the event comprised European Brand Ambassador & Mixologist for Giffard Matteo Mosetti together with Steve Irwin, Managing Director for drinksGenius, the company behind brand distribution on the island of Ireland and renowned mixologist Laura Molloy.

David Richard Coe’s winning cocktail, ‘Minnie the Moocher’, reflected a 1920s Speakeasy theme through some of the Prohibition jazz that became popular at the time.