Be Water My Friend.
”Do you prefer still like before or are you going with sparkling this time?”
BE WATER MY FRIEND
The power of Welcome Waters in Cocktail Competitions.
How about tweaking your welcome water service during your Competition performance?
Besides using welcome water as an amazing way to keep the judges hydrated during the whole Competition, it is extremely important to consider that resetting the judges’ palates can save your life also in case you have a delicate cocktail and the Bartender performing before you, made a quite complex flavoured drink or a cocktail with a strong finish.
But how about experimenting with flavoured waters that can act as “opener” flavour for your cocktail?
Let’s say you have a basil infused negroni for example, you might want to experiment with enhancing that beautiful basil fragrance by preparing the judges’ palate with a basil infused water.
In the same way, you could work with contrasting flavours that might make your cocktail pop once the judges taste it (a bit like having a contrasting flavoured cocktail foam or similar element).
Search for books and online info on infused waters in order to level up your water game and really make a difference in Competitions, remember that winning might be a matter of 0,5 points, so it’s all about the details and welcome waters might be one of your potential details you can strategically use!
You can also use bitters in your waters for a quicker result, I like to use for example celery bitters before savoury drinks or Peychaud or cherry for softer drinks but there is really no limit to your imagination here!
A final though on welcome water is about making sure you notice carefully if each judge prefers sparkling water over still water, never though about bringing with you both kinds of waters to your Competition performance and give your judges the choice…(just like in a restaurant) “sparkling or still Sir?”
I do a lot of 1:1 online coaching for Bartenders globally, helping them from their very first competition to something a little more advanced, to a national one all the way to Global Competition Finals and every time, when it comes to welcome waters, I always suggest to also take notice of the judges’ previous choices and when it’s your turn, show your attention to details by asking…”do you prefer still like before or are you going with sparkling this time?”
BE WATER MY FRIEND
Even though I always preach the importance of extreme preparation and the use of check lists for every aspect of your performance, you need to also practice to be flexible, to be present and to adapt your performance to what’s happening in the room, THIS IT THE POWER OF BEING A NINJA
As Bruce Lee used to say…”BE WATER MY FRIEND”.
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Max has kindly agreed to share with all the Cocktail Balance readers, more incredible resources to support you in your path to your next Cocktail Competitions:
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COMPETITION NINJA RESOURCES
Max La Rocca
for The Cocktail Balance
maxlarocca.com
