Florida's own John Lermayer recently won the second annual Bar Chef Challenge presented by Food & Wine magazine, Navan Vanilla Liqueur, and Grand Marnier during the Tales of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans on July 18. Lermayer, cocktail menu composer for the Florida Room at the Delano in Miami, competed against six other prominent bartenders and mixologists from around the country. Participants were hand picked by "King Cocktail" himself: master mixologist, bartending trainer, and cocktail innovator Dale DeGroff, who has assisted with the festival since its first year in 2003.
In the Bar Chef Challenge, competitors had to create a unique and tasty cocktail that utilized this year's secret ingredient, ginger marmalade. To win, Lermayer put together a complex beverage that included, among other things, a charbay black walnut port reduction, sweet ginger basil cream, and lambic framboise beer.
In its sixth consecutive year, Tales of the Cocktail 2008, founded and managed by Ann R. Tuennerman, took place July 16-20 at various locations throughout the French Quarter and featured approximately 102 events throughout its five days. The festival is now fully established as an annual event, thanks to money raised from the New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society (also founded by Tuennerman, to maintain historic appreciation for New Orleans' foods and beverages).
In a reflection of the magnitude of this event, the Tales Web site sited that the 2007 festival used 7,250 mint leaves; 3,580 lime wedges; 800 watermelon cubes; 560 gin-soaked dried cherries; 1,390 orange slices; and two tons of ice at its 98 events.
