Bombay Sapphire Gin to be exact and used in original recipes made by Charlottes top bartenders. Last night was the Bombay Sapphire and GQ Magazines Most Inspired Bartender Contest at Loft 1523.
The contest consisted of lot of the same bartenders as the Bar Wars event at Alley Cat but it was a lot classier of an event with a lot higher stakes. The winner of the event last night will be flown to Las Vegas to compete against bartenders from all over the country and that winner will then be featured in GQ Magazine and be credited for creating Bombay Sapphires new drink to be mass-marketed in the U.S.
I felt like I was in Hells Kitchen for bartenders, slash a science fair. Anyone that thinks bartending is easy is apparently only a beer tub girl because bartending is a science literally. Mixology is chemistry.
The bartenders were using fruits and ingredients Id never even heard of before. There were edible flowers frozen in ice, lemon peels wrapped around ice tubes, homemade jams lacing the glasses and extraordinary garnishes. And there were a lot of recipes involving cucumbers; apparently cucumbers are the new it ingredient like pink is the new black, cucumber is the the new pomegranate.
And the winner is (drum roll please)
Stefan from Cosmos Cafe in Ballantyne with his Queen Charlotte cocktail that reminded me a bit of a mimosa. Good luck in Vegas Stefan, way to represent the Queen City!
This article appears in Jul 14-21, 2009.







It’s painful reading these articles from a girl who lists “writer” as her occupation. Extroidinary? Really? Awful grammar, run-on sentences, and misspellings galore. Guess that’s what to expect from someone who gets hired because she looks good in a tube top. I hope this is an unpaid internship.
You sound like you need a hug!
Please stop stalking this WRITER by sending her e-mails (to her PERSONAL account as she’s been forwarding them on and that is HARASSMENT) … she must have rejected you
No kidding! “Charlotte,” why don’t you get a life. It’s obviously a typo. Have you never read the Charlotte Observer, it’s featured news articles are filled with them. Why are you so critical? If you don’t like Brittney or her blogging don’t read them. Ofcourse since you are a stalker that’s probably hard for you to do, loser!! They have a name for you back in my old neighborhood, “jerkoff!”
Stakers have always been quite a big players in the Rares Market – not too surprising rares have been going down so much on this.