Roots Marlborough Dry Gin brought together bartenders from across the country to contest cocktail recipes that represented their roots in a Show Us Your Roots competition.
Story by Tansy Boggon. Images by Roscela Bolanos.
Held in early July at The Glasshouse in Christchurch, the eight competing bartenders from as far afield as Wellington, Nelson and Dunedin took turns in sharing the stories of their roots with a crowded house.
The bartenders shook, stirred and poured their cocktails for the three discerning judges, owner of Elemental Distillers, Ben Leggett, Account Manager of Mineral, Paddy Holder, and Food Writer, Nutritionist and Author of Joyful Eating, Tansy Boggon.
Judging took into consideration taste, presentation, creativity and how the ingredients blended with each entrants’ roots story. Roots, which although firmly on New Zealand soil, extend worldwide.
The judges were selective as to whether the taste of each ingredient came through in the cocktail and enhanced the gin botanicals. A ‘London Dry’ style gin that itself is an expression of New Zealand, combining grapefruit, hops, coriander, kawakawa and gorse, harvested and foraged from Gisborne to Motueka, with wild juniper from North Macedonia.
The winner, Aydin Coşkun, a Christchurch based bartender of Smoky T’s, shared a cocktail that represented his roots that expand Iran, Turkey and New Zealand. His cocktail, named Middle East to Middle Earth, incorporated a chai tea infusion with manuka leaves presented in a traditional tea set.
Aydin will enjoy a night’s accommodation in Marlborough, where he will have the opportunity to distil his own expression of Roots Marlborough Dry Gin.