The 5th DIT Monin Cocktail Challenge took place on Thursday November 16 in the training bar of the culinary arts school of the Dublin Institute of Technology. This year the non-alcoholic cocktail competition was extremely popular with the students.
The judges were wowed by the flavour combinations and cocktail skills of the 43 entrants. All cocktails were based on Monin premium syrups and purees, and top industry professional judges awarded points for appearance, aroma, taste and the commercial appeal of the cocktails.
Due the extremely high standard of the cocktails entered, the final round consisted of five cocktails which competed for the top three positions. Mr. Tom Donohoe (Monin Business Development Manager) congratulated all competitors and awarded prizes to the top three finalists. James Murphy, assistant head of school and who also took part as a judge in the final round, offered his thanks to Mr. Tom Donohoe (sponsor and judge), Balaz Kiss (Judge, Shelbourne Hotel), Warren McElhone (Judge, DIT, MacNean House), Lynsey White, James Sheridan and Judith Boyle (School of Culinary Arts & Food Technology) and all the competitors who entered.
The 5th DIT Monin cocktail challenge winners were as follows:
1st place (Overall winner) Cocktail Name: ‘Winter Sunrise’
Prepared by: Karolina Medasova.
Ingredients and method: Place 5cl Monin Winter spice syrup, 7cl Orange juice, 7cl Apple Juice and 2cl fresh lime in a shaker with ice. Shake for 10seconds and pour into a cinnamon sugar rimmed martini glass. Garnish with a cherry
2nd place: Cocktail Name: ‘After Eight delight’
Prepared by: Louise Delaney.
Ingredients and method: In a blender place 3.55cl Monin Chocolate Mint Syrup, 1.7cl Monin Mint syrup, 1 shot of espresso and 4-6 scoops of vanilla ice cream. Blend together until smooth. Pour into a hurricane glass decorated with chocolate and garnish with whipped cream, After eight chocolates, cocoa powder and mint.
3rd place: Cocktail Name: ‘Long Beach Sunset’
Prepared by: Harry Riehn.
Ingredients and method: In a blender place 6cl Monin Pink Grapefruit Syrup and ice and blend and place in glass, then blend 4cl Monin Strawberry syrup and 8cl passion fruit syrup with ice and pour into glass on top of grapefruit ice, the blend 8cl banana syrup and 8 fresh mango pieces with ice and place on top of the other two layers. Garnish with a mango piece and a wedge of grapefruit.
