Bombay Sapphire hosts Most Imaginative Bartender Competition at the 1 Hotel in Miami Beach, Tampa’s Brenda Terry takes Judge’s Choice & Miami’s Will Thompson takes People’s Choice!

This week started off with a gin cocktail in way of Bombay Sapphire Most Imaginative Bartender competition held at Beachcraft in the 1 Hotel in Miami Beach.

The Bombay Sapphire Most Imaginative Bartender competition is a popular competition in the bartender world.   The competition starts off with bartenders chosen regionally.  These bartenders then compete against each other live.  There are two awards to be won, the first was People’s Choice, which is chosen by the attendees and the Judges choice (which gets the honor of going to las Vegas).

The Judge’s Choice gets a fully paid trip to Las Vegas to compete against other regional finalists from all over the United States.  The winner from there gets crowned Most Imaginative Bartender and graces the cover of GQ in a special edition.  Last years winner, Ran Duan, was also on hand to judge the competition.

The winner from Las Vegas also represents the United States in the world competition.

Back to Miami, we had some stiff competition!

Here they are in no particular order:

Will Thompson, Ball & Chain, Little Havana, Miami, FL. (PEOPLE’S CHOICE)

Will Thompson serving up his Little Havana Libre

Tiffanie Barriere, One Flew South, Atlanta, GA.

Chris Colon, The Golden Egg, The Regent Cocktail Club, Miami Beach, FL.

Chris Colon’s set up

Evan Christy, My Father’s Garden, Prohibition, Charleston, SC.

Brenda Terry, The Brick Lady, The Mill, Tampa, FL (JUDGE’S CHOICE)

Hanna Leonard, Meticulous Destruction, The Southern Gentlemen, Atlanta, GA

The event started off with some light bites and two bars serving Sapphire & Tonics as well as Sapphire Collins.

The bartenders were serving and presenting their cocktails to the attendees as they walked around with a poker chip to choose the People’s Choice.  The drinks were all very imaginative and the bartenders put in a lot of effort to make sure the guests were happy.

The judges made their way around the bars to fill in their judging card and met at the judges table to deliberate on their decision.

Judges deliberating.

In the end, Miami’s own Will Thompson proudly took home People’s Choice Award with his wonderful cocktail:  Little Havana Libre.

Will Thompson, Ball & Chain, accepts his People’s Choice award.

And Tampa’s Brenda Terry took home judge’s choice and a trip to Las Vegas to represent the region in the Most Imaginative Bartender final!