The Final!
Le HIBOU | STOCKHOLM | 24 OKTOBER 2021
This year’s Diplomático Cocktail Competiton – Artisans of Taste – took place at the fantastic bar Le Hibou in Stockholm. With a beautiful view with the city as background, six talented and professional bartenders challenged each other with creative drinks. The skills to create their own homemade ingredients in their Diplomático serve was crucial.
And of course, with sustainability in focus.
We all at Handpicked were very impressed over the quality of all the drinks in the final. So was also Diplomático´s representation in the jury – Miguel Escandell (far left on next image) who summed up the Swedish final this year with “By far the best in Europe!”.
As you can understand, the jury did not have an easy job choosing a winner, so this year’s Champ Daniel Seehuusen should feel extra proud to be the best among his talented colleagues.
Top – left to right
Erik Nilsson | Restaurang N.E.O – Jönköping, Robin Fäger | Restaurang Noun – Gävle, Bella Porcile | Ulvö Hotell – Ulvön,
Daniel Seehuusen | Avalon – Göteborg, Fredrik Simola | Erlandssons Bar – Gävle, Hugo Svedjeland | Guilty Pleasure Café – Umeå
The Winner
Congratulation Daniel
Daniel Seehuusen | Avalon – Göteborg
“Diplomático is the brand that got me hooked on rum. It has always been close to my heart!”
“I wanted to look at what´s left when using a main ingredient. In my case, I decided to reuse the banana peel which I made a syrup from. It’s simple and something that everyone can do at home.”
“Diplomático has installed a new cooling system that allows the distillery to reduce its water consumption by 50 percent. A good initiative that I wanted to draw attention to. By not using ice when shaking the drink, I have been able to interpret their sustainability initiative in my own way.”
“I want to describe my drink Liquid Sunshine as rum-driven and quite sweet. It is balanced by the tincture made on coffee grounds which makes the sweet flavors meet the bitter ones. The rum still gets a lot of space in the drink.”
The Drinks
Liquid Sunshine
Daniel Seehuusen | Avalon – Göteborg
| ingredients
– 50 ml Diplomático Reserva Exklusiva
– 20 ml Banana peel syrup
– 10 ml Dandelion syrup
– 10 ml local Spruce liquor (flavored Tiki Bitters)
– 5 ml used coffee grounds tincture
| Glass – Metal
| Ice – Chrushed
| Garnish – Dried banana slices
Island foraged old fashioned
Bella Porcile | Ulvö Hotell – Ulvön
| ingredients
– 50 ml Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva
– infused with pineapple weed
– 15 ml Dried Strawberry Honeysyrup
– 8 drops of Bitter with dried and fresh rowanberries,
– Venezuelan chocolate, dried orange and oormwood
| Glass – Antiques from The Antique Quriosa Shop
| Ice – One big clear ice cube
| Garnish – Dried strawberry and sherry in rum
Burned Butter Iced Cream
Robin Fäger | Restaurang Noun – Gävle
| ingredients
– Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva infused
– with browned butter
– Homemade ice cream on vanilla, orange. Boiled milk,
– cream and egg yolk, orange zest and vanilla bean.
– Cream.
– Syrup on vanilla and pineapple
| Glass – Cold Ceramic mug
| Ice – Chrushed
| Garnish –
Swedish Diplomat
Erik Nilsson | Restaurang N.E.O – Jönköping
| ingredients
– Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva
– Jonas Bronck Myskmadra
– Browned butter
– Orgeat on hazelnuts
– Blueberries & coffee beans tincture
| Glass – Smaller coffee mugs
| Ice – Large ice cube
| Garnish – Grated Hazelnut
Charlie Bucket
Hugo Svedjeland | Guilty Pleasure Café – Umeå
| ingredients
– 50 ml Diplomatico Reserva Exklusiva
– 30 ml Homemade chocolate liquore
– 10 ml Chocolate and bacon destillate
– 8 ml Spruce & Holy Ghost syrup
| Glass – Old Fashioned
| Ice – Cube
| Garnish –
Forest & Rum
Fredrik Simola | Erlandssons Bar – Gävle
| ingredients
– 40 ml Diplomático Planas
– 20 ml Chocolate liqor
– 20 ml Pineapple syrup
– 10 ml Lingonberry acid
– 3 drops Chocolate bitter
– 3 drops Peach/orange bitters
| Glass – Orrefors city D.O.Fetal
| Ice – Clear ice cube
| Garnish – Leftover pineapple powder
The Competition
Home made Ingredients
Just as if you were one of our experienced master blenders,use your knowledge and skills to create your own homemade ingredients to use in your diplomático serve.
Sustainable
At diplomatico distillery, we are firmly committed to environment protection, and we want you to do the same by applying sustainable techniques and ingredients in the creation of your diplomático serve.
Community
We love to share and take care of the communities we are part of. support local producers and artisans from your region by using their products in your serve.
Mechanics!
Educational Activities
A program of different educational activities around one of the the main three pillars of the competition is prepared in each country, either homemade techniques, sustainability in the bar, or local products.
Every bartender is more than welcome to join in the different activities, no matter you want to apply for the final or not.
Get in touch with Erik Olsson, responsible for the competition in the Nordics. He will give you all information about the dates and activities programmed in your country.
Local Finals
In order to be able to apply for the local final, the only requirement is that you have attended to one of the educational activities organized in your country.
Your local Diplomático contact will let you know about the dates and all the information you will need to submit for applying to the final.
We have already 2 virtually educational events planned: August 25th 13.00 (Sweden/Norway) 14.00 (Finland)- registration and August 30th 19.00 (Sweden/Norway) 20.00 (Finland) – registration!
A group of finalists will be selected in each country for the final event, where the jury will pick the 2021 Diplomático Artisan of Taste. We will update this page continuously so check in soon again.
Winners trip
All the local winners will join in a trip to the Diplomático distillery in Venezuela to meet our family and learn more about the tradition and technique in the making process of our rums.
Also the serve from all the winners will be featured in the book ”Zero waste cocktails” by Diplomático, to be published next year.
Apart from that, the winners will be invited to take part into different Diplomático activities during the next year, specially collaborating in the next edition of the Artisans of Taste.
*If due to external causes, out of our hands, the trip to the distillery can not be organized under 100% safety conditions, an alternative experiential trip linked to the history and values of the brand will be organized.
Rules
1. To participate in the local final, you must have attended to one of the educational activities organized in your country.
2. For the creation of your serve, you are only allowed to use Diplomático rum and homemade ingredients. The main alcohol in the drink should be any of following Diplomático products; Planas, Mantuano, Reserva Exclusiva or Selección de Familia.
Clarification about homemade ingredients; You can make the ingredient/s from scratch, like syrups, fermentations, juices etc. However you are allowed to use already existing products if you at least somehow transform the product before using it in your cocktail to make sure it is unique. E.g. If you want to use vermouth in your cocktail, you do not need to make it from scratch (although you could if you want to). It is OK to infuse the vermouth with new ingredients. It is also OK to apply any other techniques that change the product from original.
3. There is no limit in the number or type of ingredients you can use. The only requirement is for you to be able to replicate your cocktail in your bar and in the final, if you are selected.
4. You are not allowed to change the main concept of your serve for the final, but you could adapt and improve the serve for your presentation.
5. Make sure you also have sustanibility and community in mind for your drink.
6. You should at least make one post (more if you want to) on an open Instagram-account using the #artisansoftaste. You also need to take a screen shot of your post and mail this to diplomatico@handpicked.se or include it in the register form below. The picture itself can be basically whatever you want to post related to the competition. Examples could be; you picking some ingredient/s, preparation of ingrident/s or a picture of you and the drink or maybe a film.
7. When you submit your drink to the competition Artisans of Taste you need to make a video and present your story including craftsmanship with homemade ingredients, sustainability and local ingredients (minimum 1 min). Be creative! You can make the film in your bar, in the woods when picking any ingredients or maybe in your kitchen when you refine or create any ingredients. Have fun!!!!
8. The score of each participant will be the average of the marks given by the judges, according to the following criteria, in case of a draw, the judges will pick the winner.
9. Deadline for submission is September 15th. Register via the form below. You can also send recipe and movie (refer to the Challenge) to diplomatico@handpicked.se
50%
The Serve
50% of the points will be given points according to the quality and complexity of the homemade ingredients you used, the flavor and balance of the final drink, the creativity and presentation, and how well it enhances Diplomático profile.
20%
Sustainability
20% of the points will evaluate the overall sustainability of your serve, including every detail involved in the production, such as the ingredients, the techniques you used, garnish, where it is served, etc.
20%
Community
Another 20% of the total points will be given according to the use of ingredients and products coming from local producers and artisans.
10%
Social Media
A final 10% of the points will be reserved for the promotion of your serve you made on social media. We will not evaluate the amount of likes or comments, but the quality of the content you share.
*These are common rules for all the countries participating in the program, but each country could locally apply specific rules and criteria to adapt the concept to the mechanics of the competition in the country. To have all the detailed information for your country, please contact your local Diplomático contact.