Tales of the Cocktail in partnership with Culinary Concierge Magazine and CocktailTimes.com invite you to submit a winning julep recipe for the Official Cocktail Competition of the 7th Annual Tales of the Cocktail. The winning julep will be used as the official cocktail at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail event in New Orleans.
Originally, the term julep would have been used to refer to a medicinal potion, but in the American South it was used to refer to a heavily iced beverage of some type of spirit, sugar and mint.
Today, when you think of a “mint jule:” you usually think of that classic drink of the Kentucky Derby, served in its quintessential silver cup. In truth however a julep can take a variety of forms. We ask you to look back and create a julep of your own for the year 2009. David Wondrich, a cocktail historian, and a judge for this competition, provides the following definition for a “Julep”:

- A Julep can be based on spirits, wine (or fortified wine) or a combination of the two.
- It must be made in a tall (10-14 oz) glass with cracked or shaved ice.
- It may contain citrus or other fruit juice, but only in a proportion not to exceed 1/8 of the total volume of liquid (not including ice).
- It must include fresh mint.
- It must contain sugar or some other sweetener.

Rules:

1. Competition is open to any bartender currently working in the bar or restaurant industry.
2. Each participant shall use the official entry form (attached), submitting only one recipe per form.
3. All recipes shall be original creations.
4. Recipes shall be expressed in ounces, drops, or dashes and scaled for a single serving.
5. Your cocktail must utilize one of the seven brands including: Laird’s Applejack, Pierre Ferrrand Cognac, Hendrick’s Gin, Bols Genever,  Buffalo Trace bourbon Portfolio, Sazerac Rye 6 Year Old, Rum: Cruzan (any flavor)
6. In addition to the base spirit, a julep should always include mint and some form of sweetening agent. Within this framework you can easily express your creativity in how the drink is sweetened and how the mint is incorporated, along with other ingredients which do not overly detract from the base foundation.
7. All ingredients utilized should be expected to be available to most bars or easily acquired/made.
8.  Cocktails made with inappropriate ingredients will be disqualified with determination of what constitutes an inappropriate ingredient up to the discretion of the staff of Tales of the Cocktail and the judging committee.
9. Cocktails will be judged on Originality, Use of product, Taste, and Presentation.
10. You do not need to be present to compete or win.
11. First prize winner will receive $1,250 cash and be the “Official Cocktail” of Tales of the Cocktail 2009.
12. Second place winner will receive $500.00 cash and third place winner will receive $350.00
13. Winning recipes will be featured with photography in the summer issues of Culinary Concierge Magazine in New Orleans.
14. Winning recipes will be featured with photography on CocktailTimes.com
15. Winning recipe will be featured in the 2009 Tales of the Cocktail recipe book produced by Mud Puddle books.
16. Winning recipe will be featured at TalesoftheCocktail.com and multiple events at Tales of the Cocktail 2009.

Cocktail Competition Timeline:

January 8, 2009 - Cocktail Competition announced
January 9 - February 9 , 2009 - Cocktail Competition Submission Forms Posted on the www.TalesoftheCocktail.com
February 23, 2009 - Judges review entries and are narrowed down to 10 finalists. Judges include Robert Hess, Yuri Kato, Chris McMillan and David Wondrich.
Early Spring 2009 - Winners announced

Download Application Form (word document)

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