Entries to Campari Academy’s Afterlife cocktail competition close midnight this Sunday 7 July. The free competition, which is open to all Australian bartenders, will award the overall winner with a $10,000 cash prize. To be in the running, entrants must create an original cocktail championing any of the three Espolòn Tequila expressions available in Australia: Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo.
“The whole thing around ‘Afterlife’ [is] bartenders need to create a twist on a deceased classic cocktail. It’s all about reinvigorating a forgotten classic cocktail and giving it an afterlife,” said Jamila Diamonon, Campari’s National Manager – On Premise.
The competition, which coincides with Espolòn’s first global campaign for Espolòn Tequila after 25 years, will consist of three rounds, with the national finals to be held in September.
“The first round is: everybody enters their cocktail by the seventh of July via the Campari Academy website. Our ambassadors judge the first round on paper before announcing the top 25 entries , which will have their cocktails featured in their bars for the month of August,” explained Diamonon.
The first round will see all entries receive a score out of 65 based on seven categories. This will include up to ten points for the cocktail’s ‘name,’ ‘aesthetic,’ ‘recipe/balance,’ ‘method/technique,’ ‘story/connection to classic,’ and ‘how will the drink be promoted in venue,’ and up to five points for the cocktail’s ‘garnish.’ Results from the first round of judging will be announced on 15 July.
Following this, the Top 25 in-venue judging round will feature an entirely different scoring system based on the cocktail’s integration into the venue and how they promote the drink to their regular guests.
When asked what the judges are looking for, Diamonon said “we really want bartenders to showcase their creativity, but the whole ethos is around bringing a deceased classic back to life heroing Espolòn, obviously, as the key ingredient. Having bartenders work off a classic cocktail allows them to be creative while also giving them a framework to build around.
“Our hope is the competition will encourage both seasoned and new to the industry bartenders to enter as a way of exploring their creative spirit with Espolon tequila.”
Entries to the competition can be made here and will close at midnight on Sunday 7 July.
“We’re excited to see the entries coming through now. Bartenders typically reveal their creations at the crucial end point, especially when competitions are social media led: they don’t want to reveal their secrets too early,” she said.
For more information on the competition and for additional entry requirements, visit Campari Academy’s dedicated webpage.
The Afterlife competition comes at a time of rapidly growing momentum for tequila, which is currently growing at a rate of 5.5%. Within Australia, IRI data lists Espolòn as one of the top three tequila brands and as one of the fastest growing premium tequila brands in the country, experiencing continuous year-on-year double digit growth.
