Phoenicians, get your cocktail shakers ready – creating the city’s official boozy beverage is your latest civic duty.
The Spirit of Phoenix cocktail competition asks city residents to craft a signature drink that embodies the Valley of the Sun. The competition, hosted by Mayor Kate Gallego, the Arizona Restaurant Association and Visit Phoenix, launched today and entries will be accepted until March 15.
“We’re inspired a little bit by the Manhattan, which has transcended New York,” Gallego says. “I hope people will one day be drinking the Phoenix outside of Arizona.”
The mayor is aware of what you’re thinking. Aren’t there plenty of unofficial Phoenix cocktails? The Tequila Sunrise is said to have originated at the Arizona Biltmore, the electric-pink prickly pear margarita can be found at countless watering holes around the city and the whiskey-based Arizona Statehood was stirred at the Ford’s Hotel before State 48 joined the Union. She’s heard lots of thoughts, and she’s encouraging they be made into entries.
“This [contest’s] really captured people’s attention and imagination,” she says. “Everyone has an opinion on what to do.”
Anointing an official boozy sip could put Phoenix on the map in a new way.
“We have wonderful restaurants and bars. I wanted a chance to highlight our great cocktail culture as well as our local ingredients,” Gallego says. “I’m hopeful this will build excitement and community pride locally but also get a little attention outside of our community.”
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Mayor Kate Gallego, Visit Phoenix and the Arizona Restaurant Association are encouraging Phoenix residents to submit their cocktail recipes.
City of Phoenix
How the competition works
Phoenicians are invited to submit their cocktail entries and the competition is open to people of all mixology skill levels.
“We wanted this to be a community event. We know there are great home bartenders,” Gallego says. “I’m hopeful we’ll get some new ideas out of this contest.”
A panel of judges composed of local bar owners, mixologists and beverage consultants will review all of the recipe submissions and whittle them down to 20 cocktails. Those drinks will then be made for the panel to taste. Both the review and taste tests will be done blind.
The judges are Century Grand co-owner Jason Asher, Little Rituals co-owner Aaron DeFeo, Pour Form Consulting owner Jax Donahue, Garden Bar owner Kim Haasarud, Arizona Distilling Co. beverage director and sommelier Michah Olson and Actionable Craft owner Shannon Krol.
“They started the scene here in Phoenix,” Krol says of her fellow judges. “They’ve been putting in the work and they’ve mentored the next generation and the next generation.”
Donahue will bow out of taste testing because he will be crafting the cocktails for the judges. He’s excited that anyone can compete.
“If a home bartender from Phoenix happens to beat out some of the best cocktail bartenders in our fair city, that’s pretty cool in my opinion,” he says.
After the judges taste, “the public will have the final say,” Gallego says.
Beginning in April, the judges’ four favorite tipples will be served at pop-up events at bars and restaurants around the city. Two experiences will be hosted at Garden Bar and Little Rituals. There, people will be able to order a flight of the four cocktails and vote. At pop-ups, there will be more informal tastings and voting.
Throughout May, the final two will go head to head with voting ending on May 26 and a winner announced on June 2 – or “602 Day.”
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The cocktail recipes should taste like Arizona, whether that means using local ingredients, leaning on Southwest flavors or otherwise taking inspiration from our state and city.
Spirit of Phoenix
How to enter the competition
The Spirit of Phoenix is open to anyone who lives in a Phoenix zip code. The prompt is simple and fairly open-ended: “‘The Phoenix’ is a unique journey to discover the essence of our vibrant city through a signature cocktail,” the competition website reads. “What makes a cocktail uniquely “Phoenix”? You get to decide (although we have some minor guidelines you have to follow).”
Donahue says when creating the guidelines, he didn’t want to give too many prompts that would influence recipe writers.
“It needs to be a well-balanced cocktail but it also needs to be different,” he says. “The hope would be that they can create a new classic for our city… We have our own unique flavor here.”
Donahue adds that he hopes to see a drink that, from a flavor perspective, represents the desert – something dry, refreshing and earthy, while still bright. Gallego says she hopes to see people make use of indigenous and local ingredients like creosote or citrus; Krol noted chiltepin. People may also be prompted by the city’s logo – a phoenix rising from the ashes – “and have some reference either to a smoked drink or something with a fire element,” Gallego says.
“Something Phoenix, something Arizona,” Krol says, “so we’re encouraging (entrants) to use ingredients that reflect the Southwest.”
Because the winning drink is one that competition organizers hope will be adopted city-wide, they want to focus on traditional bartending techniques over more modern cocktail-making approaches that require lots of equipment.
“I’m hoping (entrants) can look outside the box a little bit and get creative without having to go too far into chemistry,” Donahue says. “This (competition) is really about the liquid in the glass.”
One important element to note: All recipes must include one ounce of Milagro Tequila, a sponsor of the contest.
Here are some guidelines entrants must follow in addition to residing in the city:
- The cocktail must be made through a traditional bar technique – shaken, stirred or thrown.
- The recipe must be detailed in fluid ounces and include execution technique, garnish and ideal glassware.
- The drink must use one full ounce of any Milagro Tequila and must not use more than 2 ounces for a base spirit (those 40 percent ABV or higher).
- Recipes may also make use of any base spirits, modifiers, bitters, syrups or mixers available through Republic National Distributing Co.
- Local or indigenous ingredients are encouraged but must be attainable and available for bars to replicate.
- If preparation for the drink requires a non-traditional technique or equipment, it should be replicable in a traditional kitchen in 36 hours or less.
- No more than three house-made ingredients may be used. Cocktails using house-made ingredients must also submit those recipes with the entry.
- Tinctures, bitters or oils may be expressed over a cocktail but will not be included during the judges’ taste test.
- A photo of the cocktail and garnish is required.
Competition submissions close at midnight on March 15.
