Bluemont Hotel hosted the Manhattan Cocktail Competition on Monday, Jan. 24. The competition consisted of four contestants, and all proceeds went toward Kansas State’s performing arts students.
“It was cool the way they did it … there were three judges and the general public had to pay $10 per person to taste the cocktails that the bartenders had batched, and everyone that was able to taste was also able to vote, so it was a culmination of the judges and those who bought tickets that decided the winning cocktail,” Lee Griffith, director of sales at Boothill Distillery, said.
The winning cocktail will be served for guests to enjoy at K-State’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance Scholarship Extravaganza, which is a premier fundraiser for students in that department.
“The MHK Cocktail Competition involved three entities: the advisory council for the K-State School of Music, Theatre and Dance, the Boot Hill Distillery out of Dodge City, Kansas, and the Bluemont Hotel,” Kathryn Harth, chair of the advisory council for the school of MTD, said. “The winning bartender won bragging rights and two tickets to attend the scholarship extravaganza to watch their cocktail creation be enjoyed by guests dressed in their finery and supporting the performing arts.”
The competition ended with a decision that Nathan Harrell, master’s student in regional and community planning, had the winning cocktail.
“The cocktail was called ‘A Boot to Your Hind,’ made with boot hill bourbon and H by Hine cognac — it is a robust, full-bodied cocktail that has a distinct start and finish,” Harrell said. “At the first taste it is somewhat tart and liquor-forward tasting the lime juice and bourbon, and on the back end, you get notes of honey and grenadine along with the smoothness of the cognac with an aftertaste of mint. It was important to me to find something somewhat simple so that it was able to mass-produce but still had complex taste and distinct flavors throughout the drink.”
Harrell’s drink will be served at the 2022 MTD Scholarship Extravaganza Saturday, Feb. 12. Tickets are on sale here. The drink can also be tasted at Bluemont Hotel, where Harrell bartends.
