Worcester Bartender Wins International Cocktail Competition
Friday, March 02, 2012
Delaney with his award-winning cocktail.
World-class may actually be a bit of an understatement, as David Delaney Junior has just won Angostura Bitters’ Global Cocktail Competition. With the victory comes a $10,000 prize, and the title of Angostura’s Brand Ambassador for one year.
The competition began in September with bartenders from around the world submitting cocktail recipes, and ended in Trinidad and Tobago with Delaney taking home the overall prize for his two cocktails “On Second Thought” and “Five Island Fizz.” The finals featured 15 bartenders from all over the world.
“They asked working bartenders to submit two cocktail recipes,” Delaney said. “One using rum, and the other they call a freestyle, which means you can use any base you want. Once we got there, we had to make each drink four times in just seven minutes.”
Delaney’s “freestyle” drink, On Second Thought, won the overall best drink title, and blends bitters with a mixture of fruity alcohols, garnished with a dehydrated lemon wheel that has been flavored with cinnamon. Clearly the bartender at "The Citizen Wine Bar" understands flavors, and working in bars and restaurants since his college graduation has honed his skills as a master flavor blender.
“I remember working with different flavors, and I had so many ideas for flavor combinations, but I didn’t quite know how to execute them,” Delaney said. “So I spoke with some of the chefs I worked with at the time, and just talked to them about mixing flavors, and what combinations go well together. Obviously, chefs really know that stuff, and I’m very thankful for all the help they gave me.”
Delaney’s rum-based drink, the Five Island Fizz, is an homage to the Caribbean drinks he loves so much, and uses a thick layer of ice to separate the rum based mixture from the bitters he places at the very top. Delaney uses this drink to educate his customers on the flavor-bending power of bitters, which do not taste the way many people expect.
“Most people come in and hear me talk about bitters and think they will actually taste bitter,” Delaney said. “But it’s actually the opposite, because they interact with different flavors, and help marry them. I have people drink it through a straw, and then without one, so they can taste the difference and really understand how the bitters work.”
The "On Second Thought"
While Delaney enjoys using Angostura bitters in many of his mixtures, he thinks his taste for the additive may have cost him last year’s competition. Delaney entered the Angostura competition last year as well, but may have gone overboard with his usage of the sponsoring product on his previous version of the “On Second Thought.”
“Last year, with it being a bitters competition, I wanted to see if I could use Angostura as the base,” Delaney said. “It’s a pretty bold move, if you’re familiar with bitters, to use an ounce or an ounce-and-a-half of them. I knew I had some other great flavors with it, but I think I let the concept take it away.”
With last year’s experiment in mind, Delaney decided to get back to the basics of flavor blending. He says he tried to showcase each ingredient and use bitters the way they are best applied: Sparingly. It obviously paid off as Delaney took home the top prize, and will now get the opportunity to travel the world promoting the Angostura brand.
Learn about what goes into On Second Thought, David Delaney's drink available at Citizen Wine Bar and Still & Stir in Worcester.
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