CHOW's Cocktail Square Off

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This contest ended on Friday, August 31, 2007, 11PM PDT. View the winners!

ABOUT THE CONTEST

Cheered on by a sold-out crowd at the San Francisco Ferry Building and overseen by emcee Duggan McDonnell (owner of San Francisco culinary cocktail mecca Cantina), one amateur mixologist and one professional bartender battled to create the perfect organic cocktail at CHOW’s Square Off cocktail competition on September 25, 2007.

Among hundreds of entries, the judges chose one professional bartender, San Franciscan Ronaldo Colli (Bar Americano), and one amateur, Abigail Gullo from New York City. Abigail’s charm won over the spectators, but Ronaldo’s experience impressed the judges, and he swept the awards.

For the first contest, Ronaldo and Abigail created a cocktail for the judges combining ingredients from that day’s farmers’ market with featured spirit Square One^® Organic Vodka.

Having just flown into San Francisco that day from New York, Abigail might have been excused a slow start, but instead she dazzled with an impressive The Duet of Pears-tini featuring puréed and prickly pears in a caramelized-sugar-rimmed martini glass.

Ronaldo poured his Hugging Thyme, a beautifully balanced blend of chamomile tea, thyme, lemon juice, and Licor 43, garnished with a curl of lemon zest wrapped around a thyme sprig. The judges —Jeff Hollinger (General Manager at San Francisco’s Absinthe), Natalie Bovis-Nelsen (The Liquid Muse blogger), Jane Goldman (editor in chief of CHOW), and Shannon Cummings (consumer judge) —voted 3-1 for Ronaldo.

The contestants were then challenged to create another cocktail using a surprise, seasonal ingredient from the produce at the farmers’ market: lemon basil.

Abigail’s Concord Fizz combined the spicy tang of lemon basil with Concord grapes and maraschino liquor.

But it was Ronaldo’s Española Sour —a citrusy riff on the traditional sour using orange marmalade and lemon juice —that won over the judges.

With two out of two triumphs, Ronaldo Colli was declared the winner of the Square Off.

There was one more contest to go: the People’s Choice Award, with spectators voting on the recipes that took Ronaldo and Abigail to the finals: Ronaldo’s Rose Mary and Abigail’s Flying Fig. Before she revealed the verdict, Allison Evanow, founder of Square One^® Organic Vodka, announced the upcoming launch of the new Square One^® Organic Cucumber, Square One’s first flavored vodka. Then came the results of the poll of spectators. Ronaldo won again, sweeping the first Cocktail Square Off.

A huge thank-you to all who participated by coming to support the event and submitting recipes to CHOW. The event was a great success in raising money for CUESA and Om Organics. Guests left with CHOW canvas bags packed with great products donated by Imbibe, Ideal Bite, Method, Sambazon Açai, Green Zebra, SmartsCo, Q Tonic, and Numi Tea.

Catering for the Square Off came from Bacar’s acclaimed kitchen.

Accommodations furnished by the Orchard Garden Hotel, San Francisco’s greenest hotel and the first in California to receive the coveted “Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design” (LEED^®) certification.