Recently, COOK hosted Philadelphia magazine and Foobooz’s first “Signature Cocktail Contest” – a true mixology grudge-match for the ages! The winner, Rick Fitzgerald, who does not tend bar for a living, brought his A-game with the winning drink: The Philly Flyer…

Philly Flyer:

• 2 oz Bluecoat gin
• 1/3 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 oz creme de cassis

Combine in a shaker, shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. No garnish, please.

Not only did Rick win, but he wrote the following description of his night at COOK that we could not resist sharing with our COOKies. Enjoy!

“Tuesday night at Cook (the place that hosted the Philadelphia Magazine signature cocktail competition) was one of the most unforgettable nights of my life!  No kidding!

The space, Cook, is a state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen with every kitchen device known to mankind.  I arrived an hour early, as directed, and immediately realized that the other three finalists (in attendance) were all professional bartenders (true mixologists, for god’s sake!).  Yikes!  Second thing I discovered is that professionals use jiggers in very different ways than amateurs do.  For one, the little jiggers at Cook were devoid of any indicative markings like 1 oz or 1/2 oz.  Apparently, great bartenders (oh, sorry, I meant mixologists) just know how much is on the two different sides of the jigger!  So, almost immediately, I knew I was way over my head………..one guy didn’t even use the jigger; he measured by eye from the bottle level…..!

Soon, the 18 invited guests arrived and we began with a “classic,” 1930s, Philadelphia cocktail – the Top Hat or Clover Club something – that the food editor of Philadelphia Magazine had researched and chosen as the “control” cocktail.  (It was like this: at almost every point, and with each separate moment, I realized even more how over my head I was!)  And, when he – the food editor – called on his invited professional mixologists to make the control cocktail, the competing professional bartenders opined that you could not make this cocktail with commercial Grenadine……so they ran out to a local organic market and came back with two pints of fresh raspberries which they proceeded to muddle and cook with the smallest amount of sugar over low heat to produce an incredible syrup and, moments later, an incredible “classic” cocktail.  (And for the third time — and the competition hadn’t even started — I realized how WAY over my head I was)

And, by the way, once the Food Editor brought in “his” bartenders friends to the mix, it was five pros and me……….oh my…….!

So, then the competition began.  I was told I would be third of four.  (The “fifth” finalist didn’t show-up, so it was decided that the pro-bartenders would mix-up the fifth cocktail as the “break” between the first two and the final two cocktails.)

The first guy up was a former bartender who now attends the Cornell School of Hospitality and is planning on opening his own restaurant someday in Philly.  His cocktail was terrific!  (Rittenhouse Rye, Aperol, Lime Juice, and his own homemade bitters!)  Next was Colin, the bartender from The Franklin Mortgage and Trust, the bar that Esquire has called one of the best cocktail bars in the country!  He was amazing, mixing like magic, shaking two shakers at once and with feeling!  His cocktail, a high-end white rum-plus-fresh-lemon-juice-plus-St. Germaine-plus-Aperol drink, was also terrific!  (Boy, was I ready to leave or what…)

Then came a two course dinner…….which was terrific.  I think it was from 20 Manning, a wonderful neighborhood restaurant just next door.

Next came the pros mixing up the cocktail of the finalist who had not shown up………and this was my lucky break!  This cocktail, comprised of gin and beef stock with a cheese and beef jerky garnish, was one of the worst things I’ve ever tasted in my life……and I was not alone in that opinion!  So, I didn’t have to follow one of the pros but had the opportunity to make people feel good after such a truly bad drink.  AND, by now, folks were getting suitably looped and the laughter was rolling around the room.

So, I was up.  I won’t bore you with the details except to say we laughed alot and drank and enjoyed my creation.  I had been observing the pros throughout and had picked up a few key points and so pulled it off.  At a couple of critical junctures, I simply called on one of the pros to help me out, like when I could not pop the shakers apart after having shaken my cocktail — two at a time and high in the air, I might add!

Anyway, then the last guy – the pro of pros – the terrific George of Southwark Bar and Restaurant and soon to be of Pub & Kitchen – who has made a few drinks for Marilyn and me over the past two years – was up.  He was so sophisticated and elegant with his mixing and stirring.  His was an amazing drink using Rittenhouse Rye, a $60/bottle of Madeira, and a PA Apple Jack that was amazing in and of itself.  It was a great cocktail.

And then everyone voted……….and then we were told that the winner would not be announced that night…..but would be announced in Phila Mag in November but that all four of the drinks made by the participating bartenders would be previewed over the next month on the magazine’s food website: www.foobooz.com.  Not announcing the winner was a good call because the camaraderie (drunkeness?) was so high at that point that to single out one cocktail would have been OK but a little off from the truly great spirit of the night.

So, who knows…….!

More to come??”