MONIN Pays Tribute to Heritage at the MONIN Cup 2018
Sometimes, after a long hard day at work, only a cocktail will do. Sure, the bar offers a number of great beers and liquors but cocktails always seem to be more fun. As a customer, it’s always a joy to watch the bartender perform a few stunts and tricks just to mix your drink of choice. The fun isn’t one-sided either because many bartenders enjoy creating cocktails too.
Toasting malunggay powder
Chico was used for this cocktail
Perhaps it’s the different flavors that come in just one drink. Or maybe it’s the colors that make everyone fascinated with cocktails. It could also be the seemingly limitless creativity that comes with creating a cocktail. Whatever it is, French company, MONIN has provided the perfect playground for the world’s most talented bartenders.
MONIN is a world-famous syrup brand which produces syrups and powders for various food products, most notably, cocktails. The product’s importers have held worldwide competitions for young bartenders since 2011.
Judges and host
For the 2018 competition, the theme was “Mix Your Origins.” The first leg saw fourteen contestants incorporate local ingredients and local culture to their drinks. Since this is the MONIN cup, at least 10 ml of MONIN syrup also had to be used. With more than 100 syrups to choose from, one can only imagine how hard it must have been for the contestants to narrow down their choices.
To those of us who are not well-versed in the art of mixology, it was surprising and delightful to see fruits such as aratiles and chico take the spotlight. Some were also bold enough to utilize their drinking glasses for their local ingredient, as one contestant did when he used bamboo from his own garden.
A boozy twist to the classic Filipino breakfast
This contestant found out he was related to Tandang Sora
The next round saw fourteen contestants reduced to five. This time, their spontaneity was tested. For the mystery box challenge, the remaining five contestants had to draw lots. Each lot had a corresponding box with a few ingredients inside. At the 30-minute mark, each contestant had to look at his box and see what cocktail he can create. To complete their cocktails, a bar cart loaded with a melee of ingredients such as fruits, bitters, herbs and others was provided. As per the rules, each contestant had to use a total of five ingredients, MONIN syrup included, to create their cocktail. Three ingredients had to come from their mystery box and two from the bar cart. This time, only two glasses had to be made. However, each pair of glassware was unique so the contestants had to be quick in picking their glass of choice.
When the last contestant finished his turn, it was finally time for the nail-biting part of the competition—the announcement of the winners. All five contestants would walk away with product giveaways but only one could be the Philippine champion.
In third place, winning a trophy and Php 5,000 was Arnel Sulangsawa of Tomatito Manila. Lawrence Christopher Gabriel of Solaire Resort and Casino bagged second place and brought home Php 10,000 in addition to his trophy. Finally, the MONIN Cup 2018 Philippine Champion, bringing home the grand prize of Php 15,000 was Ronald Pelayo of Fairmont & Raffles Hotel. Probably the biggest perk of being a champion is that Ronald will get the chance to represent the Philippines in the MONIN regional cup in Malaysia this coming 2018.
Congratulations to all the winners of MONIN Cup Philippines 2018!
