It’s the annual Park City Restaurant Association’s Cocktail Contest. It lasts through the month of July and the bartender whose cocktail wins will take home $200.00 and the bragging rights to the best drink in town. Carolyn Murray has this:
You don’t have to drink the cocktail to vote on it. Pictures, ingredients and videos can be found on the Restaurant Association website which is where people go to vote for their favorite cocktail. Director, Ginger Ries hopes people will visit the 23 restaurants participating in the contest and then vote on the Restaurant Association website. Reise has an update for the top three vote getters so far.
“We definitely have a head to head contest going on between Handle and Tupolo. Those two are the top two. Last night I was actually on line and looking at it and they were tied. This morning, Tupolo is up by one vote. A couple of days ago, Handle was up so they are definitely battling it out. And then a close third place is Royal Street Café. Bonnie Ulmer. She is a winner of this contest for many years so she is in a close third place. So those are your top three.”
Ries says drink making is becoming a bigger part of the dining out experience.
“This is just an opportunity for the Mixologists to showcase their talents. We have some amazing bartenders in our community. We’re obviously always focusing on the culinary side of things but mixology is really coming up in the ranks and becoming more and more popular. It is a skill. It’s a talent for sure. These bartenders put a lot of thought and passion into their drinks and you can see that just by some of the pictures they put on line.”
The winning concoction gets marketed as Park City’s summer cocktail.
“We as the association will put out a big campaign in August highlighting just that cocktail and hopefully driving a ton of business into the winning establishment so folks can go in and sample the winning cocktail if they haven’t already.”
They’ve been running the contest on line for five years. Some restaurants keep the winners on their menu even after the season is over. If you are an aspiring Mixologist, the recipes can be found on line.
Go to ParkCityRestaurants.com through the month f July to cast your vote for your favorite 2018 summer drink.