Pat Nolan Blog

King of Buckfast crowned in Galway

Galway continued its proud tradition of hosting Buckfast cocktail competitions recently when the King of the Buckfast 2016 was held in the city's Blue Note bar recently.

Six mixologists, carefully selected from Galway’s finest, went head-to-head to compete in the ‘Buckie’ grand final in front of a lively, raucous crowd, by all reports recently.

Electric fielded an impressively strong squad of three teamsters – India Dawson, Dylan Murray and Simon Cuddihy – while Johnny Callaghan from the Skeffington Arms, Aido Mulvaney from An Pucán and Fionn Doyle from Tribeton (last year’s winner) rounded out the list.
Tasked with the difficult job of judging on the night itself was Cyril Briscoe of the Blue Note accompanied by Kate Hawkes and Eoin Cummins from Buckfast distributor Findlater Wine & Spirit Group.

Competitors and spectators were given complimentary ‘Bucklash’ cocktails on arrival (that’s Buckfast, prosecco and lemonade) before the mixologists introduced their very own unique concoctions and demonstrated how they set about making them on stage.
After all the entries were complete the judges retired to confer secretly and mark each cocktail of out of a maximum of five while Bierhaus once again served its famous ‘Buckfast Food’ to the crowd while they waited.
India’s innovative cocktail was chosen outright as the undisputed winning entry and India received a prize of a Buckfast hamper plus a two-night stay in the five-star Marker Hotel in Dublin for her effort.
Meanwhile the judges were split over Simon and Fionn’s entries and so second place was shared between them, with each also walking away with a Buckfast hamper.

 

The Winners and Their Cocktails
1st Prize: India’s ‘Bucking Fantastic’
100 ml Buckfast, egg white, 25ml fresh lime juice, 15ml blood orange syrup, 10ml sugar syrup, Rhubarb Bitters, Hibiscus flower and sugar frosting

Joint 2nd Prize: Fionn’s ‘Gin Passion’ which includes Buckfast, Glendalough Seasonal Gin, passion fruit purée, egg white and mint

Joint 2nd Prize: Simon’s ‘Buckfast Float’ which includes Buckfast, brandy, Cherry Bitters and ice-cream.

 

Celebrating with Buckfast (from left): Blue Note Bar’s Cyril Briscoe, Electric’s Simon Cuddihy and India Dawson with Tribeton’s Fionn Dooyle and Findlater’s Kate Hawkes and Eoin Cummins,

Celebrating with Buckfast (from left): Blue Note Bar’s Cyril Briscoe, Electric’s Simon Cuddihy and India Dawson with Tribeton’s Fionn Doyle and Findlater’s Kate Hawkes and Eoin Cummins.

 


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