Yes, we have winners for the 2020 Cocktail Contest! Salt Lake City has bellied up to the bars, masked, safely distanced, disinfected and with palates fully engaged, to sip, think and determine the winner of this year’s Salt Lake magazine cocktail contest. This year, we asked competing bartenders to get as creative as possible with their libations and the results were hot, cold, spicy, fruity, infused, shrubbed and pearled. We hope you had a chance to taste and vote—because now the contest is over. The people have spoken, the judges have cogitated.

And The Winners of the 2020 Salt Lake Magazine Cocktail Contest Are (drumroll please!):

People’s Choice: Takashi P.O.P. 

RED DIRT GARDEN
1.5 oz. Amaro Bilaro
.5 oz. Sugar House Distillery Barrel-strength Rye
.75 oz. lemon juice
1 oz. red rice orgeat made with Red Butte Garden botanicals Pinch of Jacobsen Salt
from Caputo’s

Judges Choice: Water Witch 

BOROS CHARM
1.5 oz. Sugar House Distillery Bourbon Whiskey
2.5 oz. clarified acid-adjusted orange and ginger juice
.5 oz. Riff Pinot Grigio wine syrup aromatized with Vietnamese black tea, vanilla, coriander, orange peels CO2
Mix the drink and pour over the biggest ice cubes that will fit the glass. Carbonate the drink and garnish with a dehydrated orange wheel, pickled ginger slices and Verjus rouge, ginger and orange caviar (made with agar.)

Dark Horse Winner: Lake Effect 

ELLIE SATTLER
(Don’t remember who this is? Google it.)
1.5 oz. Holystone Distillery Tsunami Shochu
.5 oz. Sugar House Silver Rum
.5 oz. Toadstool Boxed Death Amaro #3 4 dashes Cry Baby Fruit Punch bitters .75 oz. lemon juice
.5 oz. beet simple syrup (equal parts beet juice to simple syrup)
.25 oz. cinnamon simple syrup
4-5 fresh sage leaves
sage bouquet (garnish)

The maker of each Winning Drink will be awarded $500 and the Dark Horse drink will also receive a cash prize. Congratulations to all. And thanks to Sugar House Distillery and Libation Inc. for helping to make the contest possible. We wish all of you the best and jolliest! For more food and drink, click here.

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