Maxxium pits north against south in 'Liquid War'

Wednesday, 19 November 2008

Maxxium UK has announced the winners of its Liquid War 2008 competition, which saw bartenders compete for team and individual honours in flair and mixology categories.

Mal Spence of Rick's Bar in Edinburgh and Tom Dyer of Creative Bartending in London were crowned the winners. Mal beat off stiff competition in the mixology sector and Tom wowed the judges and audience with his dynamic flair abilities.

The competition, which took place at Glasgow's Merchant Square, pitted bartenders from the north and south against each other for the chance to win an all expenses paid trip to the Bols Bartending Academy in Amsterdam for the whole team.

Spence and Dyer also win a trip each to the Dominican Republic, home of Brugal rum.

Spence said: "Liquid War is a great opportunity for us to showcase what we can do and that makes it all the better to win the flair competition. It is great to travel up to Glasgow and show them what the south really has to offer."

Added Dyer: "It was a great honour to represent the north, so to go on and win the whole competition really has surpassed my expectations. I love my job and it's a great honour to be recognised by people so revered within our industry."

Liquid War 2008 forms part of Maxxium UK's Mixxit programme which aims to promote and educate bartenders and consumers on the importance of quality mixed drinks.

Brugal rum, Galliano and Bols all sponsored the competition. Bols used its sponsorship opportunity to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the film Cocktail and launched its own microsite dedicated to the competition.

This year saw the introduction of a new online entry system allowing applicants to prove their abilities by submitting a unique cocktail. The cocktails were then recreated by the mixology team in Maxxium's in-house bar, The Mixxing Room. The top ten from each region won a place to participate in the Glasgow competition.