2010/11 Bols Around the World Finalists Announced!

December 28, 2010

We’re excited to announce the finalists in the 2010/11 Bols Around the World Competition! The theme of this year’s competition is Mix Your Way to Cocktail Heaven, and about 750 bartenders entered from 29 countries. Now eight finalists will be heading to Amsterdam to compete for top honors on February 28, where judges from around the world will be on hand to choose the grand prize winner who will receive 2500 Euros (about $3300 US), the 2nd-place winner will receive 750 Euros (about $985 US) and the 3rd-place winner will receive 500 Euros (about $650 US).

And the finalists are:

John S. Pomeroy, Jr. and H. Joseph Ehrmann of the United States representing the Americas

Hirohito Arai of Japan and Dennis Nam of South Korea representing Asia

Bill Bewsher and Daniel Gregory of Australia representing Australia, Africa & Middle East

Oscar Quagliarini of Italy and Frank Hagedorn of Germany representing Europe

Congrats and good luck to all of the finalists—we can’t wait to see who takes home top honors! In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek of the top eight recipes—this one’s from H. Joseph Ehrmann of Elixir in San Francisco:

Friar Serra Flip
1 oz. Bols Triple Sec
1 oz. Dry Sack Sherry
3/4 oz. Bols Genever
1 fresh egg
4 dashes Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Bitters
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Angostura bitters in an atomizer

Combine first 6 ingredients in a mixing glass and dry shake hard for 5 seconds. Add ice and shake again for 10 seconds. Strain into a coupe. To garnish: (prepare ahead of time) With an exacto knife, cut a stencil of an “angel’s wings” shape from a piece of cardboard and rest it over the glass. From 4-6 inches directly above, spray the bitters from an atomizer 2-3 times to create a ghostly appearance of Friar Serra’s angel wings on the head of the flip. Say a prayer and serve.